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Butterflies photographed in Costa Rica and nearby
Not new for me, but semi-rare and found only in Central America & Mexico. Red-spotted Scrub-Hairstreak, Strymon ziba (linked to my gallery) is another one of those very tiny, fingernail-sized butterflies and this one I’ve seen only in my garden. You can see a few other photos from other countries on the butterfliesandmoths.org page.
¡Pura Vida!
You might ask why the Common Name for this butterfly is in Spanish? “Esmeralda” = “Emerald” in English. Yes, it is unusual, even for species found only in Spanish-speaking Central America like this butterfly. It is of course named for the emerald-colored (green or turquoise) body of this Longtail Skipper which otherwise looks a lot like other Longtails! But not to be confused with a separate Turquoise Longtail! 🙂 And of course the scientific name is in Latin (esmeraldus) like every other species in the world. Esmeralda Longtail, Urbanus esmeraldus (linked to my Esmeralda Gallery) or you can see other people’s submitted photos on butterfliesandmoths.org, Esmeralda page. Just one shot here.
¡Pura Vida!
And how can a butterfly named “Apricot” not be cool? 🙂 This Apricot Sulphur, Phoebis argante (my gallery link) I saw just a week ago in my garden for my fourth sighting! One other time in my garden and once each at Xandari and Banana Azul, my two best butterfly hotels here! Check out the different looks in my gallery linked above or study them online. Here’s two shots with more from that sighting in the above gallery.
The Brown-banded Skipper, Timochares ruptifasciata, is another new species for me as my collection continues to grow! It is found in the southern USA, Mexico and Jamaica and now I’m the first to report one from Costa Rica.
¡Pura Vida!
The Plain Longtail – Urbanus simplicius (link to butterflies & moths) is one I’ve seen a lot of as you can see in my Plain Longtail GALLERY or in the top link to butterfliesandmoths that I’ve reported the most of this Central American butterfly. Here’s just two shots. See my gallery above for more . . .
The Brown Longtail – Urbanus procne (my gallery link) is one of 4 different but similar longtails that I see regularly and always have to study their details to identify. Not new, these shots were of the first seen this season back in April. Here’s 3 shots and you can see more in the above-linked gallery or browse through all my Skippers to see the subtle difference in the longtails or see more of these Browns on butterfliesandmoths dot org.
Another new butterfly species for me, seen in June in my Cecropia Tree, the Tailed Cecropian, Historis acheronta (my gallery with 3 shots). A less seen species found from South Texas to Brazil and you can see other photos submitted on butterfliesandmoths. The great variety of butterflies here just continues to keep me searching! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
In addition to a lot of Whites this week, I continue to see a lot of Yellows in my garden with the following three the most common . . .
For more photos, see my Pale Yellow Gallery.
Continue reading “3 Common Yellows this Week”
The last two days I showed the two most active White Butterflies in my garden. Now here’s the other two I’ve seen this year, even if not as attractive nor as active in my garden . . .
Great Southern White link to my gallery for more photos. He is found from the southern states in the U.S. down through Central America.
Godart’s or Felder’s White link to my gallery for more photos. He is found in Costa Rica south to Columbia.
¡Pura Vida!
The second most common White in my garden this year is this new species for me: Howarth’s White – Ganyra howarthi (link to my gallery). Here’s one shot with more in the above gallery. It is easily identified by the one big black dot beside two lesser gray dots, 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
And tomorrow I will share the two other “Whites” that I’m seeing in my garden this year. A busy year for butterflies! 🙂