Category: Butterflies

Butterflies photographed in Costa Rica and nearby

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Tulip Tree Beauty

This large moth in the Geometridae Family is nocturnal and attracted to lights which may be why he came to my terrace sliding door and was on the insect screen when I went to prepare breakfast one morning last week. While writing this at about noon on the same day, he was still on the screen and I don’t know if he is sleeping there or dead. In my gallery at Tulip Tree Beauty, Epimecis hortaria, you can see that I got two shots on the screen, the lighter one was on my Canon 750D with more detail and the darker one was on my Samsung Cellphone which is more the color brown that my eyes saw. The third photo in the gallery is the same species that I photographed back in July 2016, also on my terrace, and is the best photo! 🙂 Here’s just one of this year’s photos with the other one (Canon) at top as the featured photo . . .

Tulip Tree Beauty, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica (Samsung phone photo)

¡Pura Vida!

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Tiger Mimic-White

I’ve seen this one only one other time and the side view or folded wings view was more brown/tan than this one in my garden which is common, though the top of the wings always stay bright orange, yellow & black. It is the Tiger Mimic-White, Dismorphia amphione (linked to my gallery). It is another Central America only butterfly, found from Mexico to Columbia. Here’s two shots from my garden . . .

Tiger Mimic-White, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Golden Melwhite makes me Smile

This is one of the many “high-energy” butterflies and has a crisp bright yellow contrasted with a bright white most of the time, flitting through my garden and beyond! The Golden Melwhite, Melete polyhymnia (linked to my gallery) is found only in Central America with a few strays seen in Columbia, South America. iNaturalist shows a subspecies for only Central America named Melete polyhymnia florinda, Mariposa blanca crema de borde negro Centroamericana. Here’s three shots recently from my garden . . .

Golden Melwhite, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Rounded Metalmark

This tiny little butterfly was one of the most seen in my garden last year, but not nearly as much this year. This particular Rounded Metalmark, Calephelis perditalis (my gallery link) I believe is unique to either Costa Rica or Central America and should be a subspecies or new species, but this is where BAMONA says to put it for now and even though the ones on iNaturalist CR are darker, they are certainly in the same family as my usually more brilliantly colored observations (see my gallery). And for what it is worth, I travel all over Costa Rica but have only seen this fellow in my garden here in Atenas, Alajuela. 🙂

Rounded Metalmark, Calephelis perditalis, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Florida White . . .

. . . a long way from home! 🙂 But then with Costa Rica in the geographical center between North & South America, just about any species from either continent can be here! Though this is my first time to see this Florida White, Appias drusilla (linked to my gallery). I’ve seen this one in Florida with less of this beige or tan coloring, but I believe my ID is correct even though I will be the first to report one from Costa Rica on butterfliesandmoths.org, though iNaturalist has 36 observations from Costa Rica and says they are found all the way south into Brazil. Here’s two shots from my garden . . .

Florida White, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Ugly Brown Butterfly?

That is what some might call this, one of many similar to him. He is a Common Spurwing, Antigonus erosus (linked to my gallery with 4 pix). There are many other similar “Spreadwings” or other categories. Here’s just one shot from my garden. Go to the above gallery for more of this one.

Common Spurwing, Antigonus erosus, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

And he is a tiny one! Maybe one inch wide.

¡Pura Vida!

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Boisduval’s Yellow & Bee!

And the butterfly decided to back away from this flower, giving way to the bee! 🙂 Plus this is a less frequently seen butterfly here, another interesting “Yellow,” the Boisduval’s Yellow, Eurema boisduvaliana (linked to my gallery).

Boisduval’s Yellow + Bee, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Boisduval’s Yellow backing away from a Bee, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Banded Peacock, Dark & Light

One of the more common butterflies all over Costa Rica is this Banded Peacock, Anartia fatima (my gallery link) and as these two recent photos in my garden show, the top of its wings are a very dark brown & red with a brilliant white while the bottom of the wings are paler or a light brown and red. Of course, as always in nature, there are a few exceptions or variations, but not many in this species. See my gallery linked above. It is another of the many species found only in Central America & Mexico.

Banded Peacock, Atenas Alajuela, Costa Rica
Banded Peacock, Atenas Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Statira Sulphur

All of the Whites, Yellows & Sulphur butterflies are in the Pieridae Family (linked to my gallery) where I’ve collected 32 species and one of the most understated of them all is this Statira Sulphur, Aphrissa statira (gallery linked) with a non-descript off-white color, but bright yellow shoulders and the scattered brown spots and upper brown border showing through on the folded wings. And I like his simplicity. Here’s one shot from my garden the other day and there are a lot more in the gallery including some from the Caribe that are a stronger yellow.

Statira Sulphur, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

About My Usual September Caribe Trip

It was first scheduled for earlier in September and a doctor’s appointment moved it to this week which had to be changed again because the government is remodeling the Limón Airport (I prefer to fly there now.) with a longer runway for bigger planes and international flights plus a remodeled terminal building, meaning the airport is closed through the 20th of September for construction work. 🙁

So I rescheduled my Hotel Banana Azul visit again, this time to October 1-6. Hopefully the airport will be ready! 🙂 And hopefully there will still be butterflies on the beach road in October like there has always been in September. I’ll be reporting from there the first week of October to let you know. Now I continue to report the larger number than usual in my garden in Atenas this year! 🙂