Like me recovering from cancer and the just-as-bad cancer treatment, this pitiful-looking damaged butterfly is still flying and eating! 🙂 He is a Ilus swallowtail or Dual-spotted swallowtail, Mimoides ilus (Wikipedia link) and note that it is very similar to another butterfly that I originally labeled this as, the Emerald-patched Cattleheart. The main difference is the Cattleheart has emerald or light-green spots on the upper wings instead of white as this Swallowtail has. (And by the way, Cattlehearts are in the Swallowtail family!) See my Dual-spotted Swallowtail Gallery or all of my CR Butterflies. Note that in the additional photos below this feature image there is one of a non-damaged Dual-spotted that got in my house on the window screen before I opened it and let him fly out.
Damaged Dual-spotted Swallowtail, Atenas, Costa Rica
And some more shots including of one not damaged (+ health update) . . .
This is not one of the most common butterfly in my garden, though I’ve seen several as shown in my White Angled-Sulphur Gallery. You can read about this Anteos clorinde on Wikipedia and then note in these 3 photos for today that when they land on a leaf or flower they often look solid white or occasionally with a greenish hue for camouflage, but when they open their wings they have two large bright yellow splotches and four little brown dots that make them unique. There are better images in my gallery.
This one is not only a regular in my garden but I’ve photographed him all over Costa Rica as you can see in my Banded Peacock Gallery. Read more about this Banded Peacock, Anartia fatima on Wikipedia. Note that there is another butterfly with this English common name, but this Anartia fatima is found only from South Texas through Mexico and Central America, though most common in Costa Rica.
This type of little Skipper butterfly is actually more colorful than he would let me photograph this time, since his upper back is a bright blue. You can see some pix with the blue showing in my Two-barred Flasher Gallery and to learn more see this article in Wikipedia. Binomial name: Astraptes fulgerator.
Two-barred Flasher, Astraptes fulgerator, Atenas, Costa Rica.
Another of my regular garden butterfly visitors is the Juno Heliconia, Dione juno (Wikipedia link), also called Juno silverspot and Juno longwing. They are a nice sparkly butterfly like the checkerspots on the bottom of wings or side-views while all orange with black trim on top almost like another favorite, the Julia (though not as large). See my gallery of this variously named Dione Juno or check out my bigger CR Butterflies Gallery. This Juno is found from the southern U.S. down through Central and most of South America.
Another common butterfly in my garden here in Atenas, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica is the Giant Swallowtail, Papilio rumiko (Link to Wikipedia) and I just noticed that ones here in Central America and Western U.S. have been re-classified, while the ones in Eastern U.S. are called Papilio cresphontes, for those really into insect ID! 🙂 Many websites not updated still have them all as cresphontes, including my trusty Swift Guide to Butterflies. So you may have read it first here! The Giant Swallowtails in Costa Rica are Papilio rumiko! 🙂
Giant Swallowtail, Papilio rumiko, Atenas, Costa Rica
Possibly the most common butterfly in my garden though certainly not the most colorful! But at least I’m out in the garden again! 🙂 To see other photos I’ve made of this species, my Polydamas Swallowtail Gallery or for more butterflies see my Butterflies of Costa Rica Galleries! 126+ 🙂
The “Trip Gallery” for last week’s 4 nights at El Silencio Lodge & Reserve in Bajos del Toro, Alajuela, Costa Rica is now completed and ready to visit by clicking the image below or this web address with many photos not yet shared on the blog:
And because I was there just 6 months ago, last September, and was not having a knee problem, I have even more photos in THAT FIRST TRIP GALLERY, especially more waterfalls! 🙂 Just click the gallery title below to see it . . .
One of my new favorite lodges in Costa Rica is El Silencio Lodge at Bajos del Toro in my own province of Alajuela, north of San Ramon in the cloud forest mountains where there are many waterfalls. I was there last September and as I frequently do, I made a little 7X7 inch photo book about my experiences there, sending them a copy plus one each of my general birds and butterflies books for their other guests to enjoy. When the owner came down from San Jose and saw the books he was so impressed that he told the staff to offer me two free nights in this luxury lodge.
Well, of course I accepted the offer and will add-on two more nights at my cost for a great 5-day visit the middle of February! 🙂 If you want to see a free electronic preview of the book online, click the title here:El Silencio, Touching Souls, inspired by a quote from Mother Teresa:
We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.
Well . . . only three! Though I saw many more, most never stopped for a photo, especially those dratted Yellows! 🙂 The Mexican Silverspot never let me see his top but Orange Mapwing did let me get both a side-view and top-view, just not both in good focus. 🙂 And then right before making this post, I decided to make a second, more zoomed-in version of some of these photos for a closer look, where you can see more details on the more drastically cropped versions, such as in the feature photo of the Orange Mapwing (butterfliesandmoths.org Link) found only in Central America.
The Painted White (Wikipedia Link), was my first sighting of this butterfly, found from Mexico south to Paraguay. In my butterfly galleries you can see that it is similar to other Whites. And the Mexican Silverspot (butterfliesandmoths.org Link) is found from Brazil north through Mexico with strays in New Mexico & Texas and also a first time photographed. All were identified with my trusty book A Swift Guide to Butterflies of Mexico and Central America and reconfirmed online with different sites.
Orange Mapwing
Orange Mapwing
Orange Mapwing
Orange Mapwing
Painted White
Painted White
Mexican Silverspot
Mexican Silverspot
Butterflies photographed at Hotel Savegre & Batsú Gardens, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica.
Because I’ve seen it before, I had a gallery for the Orange Mapwing with 2 other photos from El Silencio Lodge, Bajo del Toro Amarillo. The Painted White was a first-time sighting and thus only this one photo in that gallery for now and the Mexican Silverspot is also new this trip but I have 3 photos in it. If you like butterflies, I have 126+ species now in my Butterflies of Costa Rica Gallery, one of the largest, if not the largest, photo gallery of Costa Rica Butterflies on the internet. 🙂
