This is a new species for me and evidently not seen by many since it is not even listed on BAMONA and I am only the 4th person to report observing one on iNaturalist Costa Rica. And of course I think mine are the best photos! 🙂 The Crassus Swallowtail, Battus crassus is found from Costa Rica south to parts of Venezuela & Ecuador. The most photos are found on iNaturalist Ecuador, with 27 observations, while Panama has 5 and Venezuela 4 like us. See all 10 of my photos of this unique butterfly in my GALLERY: Crassus Swallowtail. Here’s just two of those shots . . .
Crassus Swallowtail, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa RicaCrassus Swallowtail, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Below this email version photo is a gallery of 14 flower photos I made during the last 2 weeks of June. Yeah, I’m catching up on old photo blog posts written earlier. 🙂 Enjoy!
Or “Tiger-striped Longwing” as the 2 general common names with 6 different sub-species listed on iNaturalist. For this one from my garden I have not identified the sub-species yet, though in my gallery I have photos of the ssp. Clarescens which is endemic to Southwestern Costa Rica (Pacific Coast). See more images in my gallery Ismenius Tiger. Found only in Central American.
Ismenius Tiger, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa RicaIsmenius Tiger, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
I consider these “Trip Galleries” the best of all my photo galleries where I put only the best photos from that experience. Then I link some of these photos to subject galleries such as a bird species gallery, etc. The trip galleries can also be of help if you plan a trip to one of these wonderful places I visit here in Costa Rica! 🙂
On one of the trails at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge at Piedras Blancas National Park, I found this mossy root-like or vine-like “thing” walking around under a leaf (must have sticky feet). 🙂 I just posted it on iNaturalist, where the A I said it was pretty confident to put it in the Genus Trychopeplus, a genus of insects. I searched around more on iNat and decided that the closest match for a species is Trychopeplus laciniatus (linked to that page in iNaturalistCR. There is very little info online and no “common name” in Spanish or English, but mine matches most of the photos found of that species.
On land it would be kind of like a mossy “Walking Stick Insect” or to me almost looks more like the underwater “Sea Dragon” creatures found in the oceans somewhere, but I know nothing about those and didn’t try to research. 🙂
It is just one of the many fun things I keep finding here in Costa Rica and will continue to share on this blog. For other interesting insects I’ve photographed in Costa Rica, go the the More Insects Gallery. 🙂
Trychopeplus laciniatus species of insect at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge, Piedras Blancas National Park, Golfito, Costa Rica
There are a lot of dragonflies around all the different water locations and because we have the dragonfly specialist active in iNaturalist Costa Rica, I wait until after I post the photos there for him to confirm or give the species or even say if I have them in the right family! 🙂 I’m more confident about that amber wing identification, but not the others. And I’m including two reds here, because I think they are two different species.
One of theTropical Dashers – Genus Micrathyria, Dragonflies at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge, Golfito, Costa Rica
This butterfly is a new species for me, from Esquinas Rainforest Lodge: Whitened Eyed-Metalmark, Mesosemia zonalis (linked to iNaturalist Costa Rica with only 21 observations with mine making it 22). It is found from Honduras south to Columbia, but not seen frequently. My new Gallery: Whitened Eyed-Metalmark has only these three photos now. 🙂
I’m getting my best help with identification through iNaturalist or through multiple channels with them. And I finally determined that this new Yellow for me is Westwood’s Yellow,Eurema westwoodii, linked to iNaturalist, but not much info there or anywhere else online about this species and it is not even included in BAMONA. I have a gallery for Westwood’s Yellow with just two observations, June 2 & 7 this year. The 2 photos here are from my June 7 observation.
This is a Blue-eyed Setwing, Dythemis nigra(linked to my Gallery) which is not a new species for me and these photo IDs have been confirmed by iNaturalist. I have both dragonflies and damselflies visiting my garden somewhat regularly, though they tend to stay closer to the water of a stream across the cow pasture from me. Two shots from different angles . . .
Genus Dythemis Dragonfly, in my garden, Atenas, Costa RicaGenus Dythemis Dragonfly, in my garden, Atenas, Costa Rica
