Martin's Sussex Birding Blog: Costa Rica Butterflies

I apologise in advance for any mistakes in identification. I am not an expert but even if I were I think I would still be making mistakes. Butterfly identification initially seems simple but the more you get into it the more complex it becomes. Differences between male and female; variations between individuals within a species; genetic morphs; variations between early and late broods; aberrations; geographic variations within species; mimic species. The potential for confusion is boundless.

I have tried my best to identify these butterflies but I have no authoritative text to hand and there is a lot of conflicting data on the web. You could perhaps use this blog as a starting point for identification but please don't assume that because it is written here, it must be correct.

Perhaps it is best to just admire their beauty and not worry too much about what they are called.

Orange Julia - Dryas Iulia obtaining salt by drinking crocodile tears

See my earlier blogs for details of the places we visited whilst in Costa Rica. Butterflies were low on my priority list. It was in the main a touring holiday with my wife Sue but I did manage to include a bit of birding! Much as I love butterflies there just was not enough time to focus on these as well, so only a few pictures were taken.

Banded Peacock - Anartia fatima

Above a Banded Peacock near the Hacienda Guachipelin and below, in the same area, a small patch of mud clearly containing some minerals that the yellow and sulphur butterflies needed

Cloudless Sulphur - Phoebis sennae

Little Yellow - Eurema lisa

Tailed Orange - Pyrisitia proterpia

Below my first sightings of free flying Monarchs with a few seen around the Arenal Springs Hotel. In the same area a Simple Checkerspot.

Monarch - Danaus plexippus

Simple Checkerspot - Chlosyne hippodrome

One of the most common butterflies was the Malachite. The shot below of a rather tatty specimen on the wall outside our hotel room. It doesn't look much here but it is the underside that is really spectacular. I had a few goes but I couldn't get the shot I wanted and in the end had to resort to photographing a specimen in a butterfly house at La Quinta.

Malachite Siproeta stelenes

Brown Longtail Urbanus procne

We did see a lot of butterflies but perhaps not in the numbers that I had expected. They were about, but in the frequent rain showers they were not flying and when the showers stopped and the sun came out there was little chance of finding one settled and willing to pose for a picture. It wasn't until we got towards the Caribbean coast and the denser rain forests that everything started to slow down and the butterflies could be found nectering on flowers or feeding on fruit. Most of the following pictures were taken in the Tortugero area

Postman - Melpomene Longwing - Heliconius melpomene rosina

Markings on the underwing suggest Melpomene Longwing (Heliconius melpomene rosina) although I could only see one red dot on the hindwing against an expectation of three for H. melpomene and four for the very similar H.erato. However, this species is subject to geographic variation, morphs and hybridisation so some variation is to be expected. The red markings indicate that it is poisonous. It is a pollen eater and apparently can see in the ultraviolet range so is able see subtle wing markings that should enable it to avoid mating with other similar species (H.erato) in its geographic area. Given the level of hybridisation there must be a few around that are not too fussy.

Ruby-spotted Swallowtail - Papilio anchisiades - On the beach at the RIU Palace

Zebra Longwing Heliconius Charitonia

Prepona sp.

Togarna Hairstreak - Arawacus togarna

Togarna Hairstreak, perhaps my favourite butterfly find. It has wing markings pointing towards a false head at its back end and, when threatened, wing tails that it is able to move, to look like moving antenna and legs. The body and real head being off white in colour tend to blend into the foliage making it a difficult target to identify.

Tiger Leafwing - Consul fabius

White Angled Sulphur - Anteos clorinde

White Peacock - Anartia jatrophae

Like everyone else I wanted an open wing shot of a Blue Morpho. I saw a lot of them on the secondary growth around the Pachira Lodge at Tortuguero but getting a good picture was almost impossible. You could find them seemingly basking in the sun with open wings but they always seemed to at a height of two metres or more. Any settling below that height were usually on the underside of a leaf and with the wings closed. Perhaps I was just unlucky. Most specimens were also in a very damaged state. My best picture is shown below.

Common Blue Morpho - Morpho peleides (Pachira Lodge)

The pristene specimen below was exactly what I was looking for but unfortunately it was also in the butterfly house at La Quinta. Even with a captive specimen I failed to get the open wing shot I was looking for.