Category: Insects

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Brown Longtail

All the Longtail Skippers are brown, but this one has slightly different markings to give him the color name. 🙂 And you may have noticed that I’m much heavier on Skippers in general this year which may mean that they can handle the different weather better or some other reason I don’t know. And I continue to have fewer birds and fewer of the brighter colored butterflies, whatever the reason may be.

Brown Longtail, Atenas, Costa Rica

These range from a lighter brown than this to a dark brown as seen in my Brown Longtail GALLERY.

¡Pura Vida!

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Rounded Metalmark

Rounded Metalmark, Calephelis perditalis, is a beautiful tiny butterfly that I’ve seen several times over the years in my garden and this identification is my best effort! I say that, implying some doubt, because my Glassberg book says it has “no white check” on the wing border, although both websites I use have photos of this species with and without the white check, so I’m sticking with this ID for now. The next closest one is in the Glassberg book that is not an official species which he calls “Bright Scintillant (Misol-ha CHP), a Calephelis species” and is probably a sub-species of this Rounded Metalmark. A closer match to this, but I want to put a name on as many as possible and it matches the two websites. Of course no source, book or web, is infallible! 🙂 Here’s one photo for the email version followed by 3 more! Those 2 websites on this species are:

Rounded Metalmark, Atenas, Costa Rica
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First Report of this Species in CR

The Butterflies and Moths dot com doesn’t even have this species included on their website yet (I’ve requested it!) and otherwise online I find it reported from Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua, so my photo may be the first reported of this species from Costa Rica (IF my identity is correct) 🙂 and this is not the first time for me to add a new species on that website! 🙂 I’ve found online two common names and two scientific names for what seems to be the same species of butterfly . . .

COMMON NAMES: Yellow-haired Skipper and Yellow-haired Pyramid-Skipper

SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Typhedanus cajeta cajeta and Cogia cajeta cajeta

This is not terribly unusual with so many species of butterflies and new ones being discovered or named every year. And I just wait to see what my supervisor at Butterflies and Moths dot com decides to do with it. 🙂

Yellow-haired Skipper, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Today is “National Chocolate-Covered Insects Day”

Another fun holiday from the Washington Post article on “strange and fun holidays:”

National Chocolate-Covered Insects Day (October 14): Chocolate tastes delicious on anything, right? So why not insects? They are filled with protein and are popular foods in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Be adventurous and try chocolate-covered ants, crickets or superworms. So celebrate what will be one of the major food sources in the future!  🙂

World-wide Chocolate-covered Insect Day!  🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Caribbean Trip Gallery Finished!

And of course there are many more blog posts I intended to write on this almost annual trip to the Atlantic Coast of Costa Rica, but the opening of a new art gallery is demanding all of my time now! Maybe more later. In the meantime if you are interested in Costa Rica’s Caribe South, I hope you will check out this quite extensive “Trip Gallery” with all of my decent photos included in category folders by clicking the Page 1 Gallery Pix below or going to this address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2023-September-18-24-South-Caribbean-Costa-Rica

CLICK this 1st page image to OPEN GALLERY

BUTTERFLIES are the real stars this year! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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34 Butterfly Species + Busy Schedule

I finally got through all my butterfly photos made on the property at Hotel Banana Azul in Costa Rica’s Caribe South and they total 34 species! Unfortunately I have 11 different Skippers labeled “Unidentified” and I really need some better sources to help with identification. I am including two photos here and one is an unidentified Yellow or Sulphur. You can see all of the 34 species in my Banana Azul 2023 Butterfly GALLERY. And this is in addition to all those already reported on from Gandoca-Manzanillo and Cahuita reserves making a total of 54 species! 🙂

Definitely one of the Spreadwing Skippers, but not specifically identified.
One of the Yellows or Sulphurs but again not specifically identified.

And oh yeah, the feature photo at the top of post has been identified as a Pompeius Skipper, Pompeius pompeius.

¡Pura Vida!

¡Muy ocupado! — Very Busy!

Read on for why I am behind on my blog posts now and what is happening in my personal life, from my new “free” doctors to helping open a new art gallery in Atenas . . .

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Fun Tropical Insects

I did a post on “Other Insects” at Banana Azul earlier but did not include these 6 bugs that are all unidentified for now (and maybe for a long time). 🙂 I never cease to be amazed at the variety, colors, patterns and just the appearance of so many different insects here in Costa Rica. I will not label or comment on these 6 but just share the photos below . . .

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Half My Banana Azul Butterflies

I initially was able to identify only about 15 of the 30 or more species of butterflies photographed at Hotel Banana Azul. Most of the remainder of the butterflies are various types of Skippers and hopefully I will eventually identify most of them! 🙂 I’m getting behind again, so not sure when I will get them posted but maybe tomorrow. I’m working on posts only 4 days ahead now, so we will see. 🙂

Arawacus Togarna, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa Rica
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Fumigating My House Videos

Alex made a couple of very short phone videos of Walter fumigating inside and outside my house yesterday. It doesn’t show him doing the attic or spraying liquid insecticide along all walls, both inside and outside around the house foundation.

INSIDE

OUTSIDE

I’m back home on Saturday cleaning up their mess and my maid is coming at 1:00 to mop the floors (sticky insecticide) because she mops better than me. I swept up all the dead insects and unfortunately some Geckos too. Hopefully new Geckos will come back in. They are generally the best pest control, just not for thousands of ants!

¡Pura Vida!