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Butterflies photographed in Costa Rica and nearby
It still happens quite a bit for me to not be able to identify a butterfly. This one I first thought was one of the tiny Metalmarks, but all the A-I identifiers puts in in the bigger Skipper family with the leading genuses being Staphylus, Quadrus, or Ouleus, but I still can’t find a match with all my butterfly books and online help. I will eventually post it and hope someone will identify it. Very small, less than an inch wingspan. Here’s three photos . . .
The little thumbnail-sized Hairstreaks are beginning to show up as the busier butterfly time starts in my garden. Just be aware that butterflies can be found all year long all over Costa Rica. iNaturalist has a chart for each species showing when the observations were found and every month has some highs, regardless of the winds and other factors including my garden’s May-October high season, which may be because I have more flowers then. 🙂
I’ve seen this little one several times as shown in my GALLERY: Red-spotted Scrub-Hairstreak, Strymon ziba. And if you are a serious butterfly watcher here in Costa Rica, note that this species is very much like another, Strymon megarus (my gallery link), and the two are easily confused! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
One of my projects over the last few weeks has been to get all of my butterfly observation photos (11 years worth) in iNaturalist and I have nearly completed that tedious posting job with now over 1,500 observation posted on iNaturalist total, which beyond all my butterflies, I have also posted all of my dragonflies and I am in real time now posting other nature photos from day to day but not going back with my 11 year collections, like I just did with butterflies. 🙂
Now all of my Costa Rica butterfly photos will be on both iNaturalist and on butterfliesandmoths.org. Plus all bird photos on eBird and future birds on both. Contributing your image to these volunteer scientific sites will contribute to future research and hopefully the future preservation of many species. I recommend everyone to participate as they can. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
This, like many yellows, is easily confused with other similar yellows, but what I’m labeling Dina Yellow, Pyrisita dina (my gallery link) is one I’ve seen a lot, especially in my garden.
¡Pura Vida!
Another Central-America-only butterfly, the Hecale Longwing, Heliconius hecale (zuleika) (my gallery link) which I’ve seen all over Costa Rica, but like with most, there are more photos from my garden because I spend more time here! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
This Leuce Yellow, Mariposa Amarilla Brasileña, Pyrisitia leuce (my gallery link) was a new species for me last year (2024) and now I am starting the 2025 butterfly season with that species! 🙂
One website calls this “Blurry-Striped Longtail,” but I think I prefer White-striped Longtail, Chioides catillus (my gallery link). Just this one shot here plus the feature photo at top. Go to that gallery for more shots in my garden the other day while still windy + more from last year.
¡Pura Vida!
And for you butterfly aficionados, yes, he is a lot like the Durantes Longtail, but without that white stripe! Plus he has a longer tail than any of the other Longtails, I think.
The Florida (Giant) White, Glutophrissa drusilla (my gallery link) (formerly Appias drusilla and without the “Giant” in common name) can be found all over Costa Rica even though it’s name implies that it is a butterfly for the state of Florida. 🙂
See more butterfly photos + an update on migrants being sent to Costa Rica by Dictator Trump . . .
Continue reading “Florida White”
More different butterflies are beginning to show up like this Cassius Blue, Leptotes cassius (my gallery link) on my driveway the other day while watering the garden (why blacktop is wet). And it was still windy then, but I guess if the caterpillar turns to a butterfly, he has to eat! Windy or not! 🙂
And oh yeah, he is called a “Blue” because the top of his wings are solid blue, but you only see that when he is flying. He seems to never land with his wings open. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Only my second time to see this species with the other documented with just a cell phone on 8th Avenue in Boquerón Barrio, not far from my house. Thankfully, these photos, made with my Canon camera in my garden, will improve the quality of the photos in my GALLERY: Banded Orange Heliconian, Dryadula phaetusa. 🙂 This is mostly a Central American Butterfly with rare strays in Mexico & SW U.S. as shown on the few Butterflies & Moths postings, but more than 200 observations on iNaturalist CR. 🙂
He’s back! (And while the wind is still blowing!) As one of the most common tiny butterflies in my garden each year, maybe he is signaling the beginning of “butterfly season?” 🙂 The Rounded Metalmark, Calephelis perditalis (my gallery link) is only a little bigger than my thumbnail and yet is one of the most intricately-designed of all the butterflies. I even used a photo of one on my 2023 Christmas Card! 🙂
This one is the first of that species in my garden this year, but I expect there to be many more! 🙂 And a funny thing to me is that all my many photos of this species have come from my garden, not even one from another location in Costa Rica! But iNaturalist CR shows them all over, on both slopes, but with more in the hills and on the Pacific Slope for whatever reason.
¡Pura Vida!