Category: Insects

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New Butterfly Species . . .

. . . for me at least, and for BAMONA, as I had to ask for the additional species, though there are lots (160) of observations on iNaturalist CR. This was of course in my garden, on the “Once de abril” or Golden Dewdrop flowering shrub (Duranta erecta). The butterfly is the Anius Metalmark (Charis anius), one of the tiny (thumbnail sized) Metalmarks. In addition to the iNat observations above you can find a little bit of info on iNaturalista Costa Rica. It is found from Honduras south to Brazil. No other information seems to be online nor in my books. I got only two shots before he disappeared.

Anius Metalmark, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Anius Metalmark, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

It’s our choice!

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Motmots Teach “Jr” to Hunt

Sunday before last in the early morning before walking to El Fogon for breakfast, I was on my terrace with a cup of tea and my camera when the neighborhood motmots came to my garden with their offspring. It appears that they were teaching him/her (male and female look identical to humans) how to catch a Cicada (or find a dead one). 🙂 Check out the gallery below of 6 shots chronologically of the lesson in my Higuerón and Nance Trees and on the ground below . . .

The Family Together on the ground with “Junior” holding the Cicada.
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Red Cracker is Blue on Top!

The Red Cracker, Hamadryas amphinome (my gallery link) has an almost solid red underside of his lower wing, which I am yet to get a photo of. The only other place that I’ve seen this butterfly was on two different occasions at Xandari Resort, on a hill overlooking Alajuela (city) and the San Jose Airport. This shot was made in my garden on the trunk of the Cecropia Tree. I’ve only seen Crackers (all species) on trunks of trees, so maybe there is something in bark they eat? 🙂 And I’ve also only seen the topside of most.

Red Cracker, Hamadryas amphinome, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

And if Cracker butterflies interest you, check out my galleries on these 6 different species . . .

¡Pura Vida!

It’s the choice of humans to save the earth or let it die. It is now headed for death!

¡Pura Vida!

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Ruddy Daggerwing

This is only my second time to see one of these interesting butterflies, and the whole time he was in my garden, he stayed partially hidden behind leaves. The other time was just a half block outside the Roca Verde gate in Boquerón Barrio on 8th Avenue. You can see both sightings in my Ruddy Daggerwing Gallery. This one of several daggerwings is unique because he is orange on top like many other daggerwings, but his underside is “ruddy” (see my feature photo) or sometimes much like a dead leaf and the point of the upper wing is very falcate (hooked) like no other daggerwing. He is found from Brazil north through Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies to southern Florida. Here’s 3 of my several photos . . .

Ruddy Daggerwing, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Hummingbird Shadow

When trying to photograph that tiny little butterfly on the left of that rock in my garden I discovered later that I instead got a silhoutte shadow of a hummingbird flying above the butterfly. 🙂 Not great, but an interesting surprise when going through the photos. 🙂

Hummingbird Shadow on rock near a tiny butterfly in my garden, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.

Just a little serendipity! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” – Mahatma Gandhi 

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Asilidae or “Robber Fly”

is here in my garden eating one of the brilliant Green Orchid Bees. Asilidae is the Family of robber flies or assassin flies with many different species, especially here in the tropics, so I’m not likely to find the species name, but will hope someone on iNaturalist knows! 🙂 You can read about them in the Asilidae article on Wikipedia. Another fun little insect here in Costa Rica! 🙂 And Robber Flies pretty much all over the Americas! And you can see other photos on iNaturalist Costa Rica with a map of where the many photos there have come from.

Robber Fly or Assassin Fly (eating an Orchid Bee) , Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

See some of my other interesting CR insect photos in that gallery link.

¡Pura Vida!

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One of the Cicadas

In running these two photos through the iNaturalist, this insect is definitely in the Fidicina Genus (with about 30 species of Cicadas in CR) and though not an exact match, the closest species I could find was Fidicina toulgoeti which iNaturalist says has never been observed in Costa Rica (only Ecuador & Brazil), soooo, I will submit it to iNat just as the genus and see if one of the “bug experts” can identify it. If they agree with my suggested species, then mine will be the first observation of it in Costa Rica! 🙂

It was seen on the Cecropia Tree in my garden . . .

One of 30 species of Cicadas in Costa Rica, observed in Atenas, Alajuela.
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Yojoa Scrub-Hairstreak

If nothing else, it has a cool name! 🙂 The Yojoa Scrub-Hairstreak – Strymon yojoa (my gallery link) is another of those many Central American butterflies. Here’s a couple of shots and go to the gallery for more.

Yojoa Scrub-Hairstreak, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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Large Orange Sulphur

This species usually has lots of brown spots and lines on the folded wings much like the Apricot Sulphur, but these in my garden the other day were solid yellow, or to fit their name, a bright orange! 🙂 I am pretty sure of the identification, though never certain. Here’s 3 pix from that recent sighting and for more photos, see my Orange Sulphur Gallery.

Large Orange Sulphur, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica.
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Guava Skipper

This was one of my first “exotic” butterflies on my birthday trip to Xandari in 2019 and since I’ve seen it one other time in my garden in June of 2022 and now here in 2025. See some much better photos in my gallery: Guava Skipper.

Note that different sources have different scientific names: Phocides lilea, Phocides polybus and Phocides palemon. I still don’t know who is in charge of butterfly names, but I’m beginning to lean toward iNaturalist and put their scientific name first in my lists when more than one is used. It is not like with birds where eBird is sort of everyone’s source with confidence that it is always correct. (A least we think that!) 🙂

Guava Skipper, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
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