# Peruvian Amazon 3 -- Butterflies



## moloch05 (Feb 10, 2010)

Well, these are not herps but they are beautiful animals that were one of the highlights of the trip to me. I saw butterflies every time that I ventured into the forest. Often, I would see something beautiful and then never encounter it again for the remainder of the trip. Diversity of just about everything in tropics is staggering. 

I spent a fair amount of time in the late morning and afternoon chasing butterflies. Most of the butterflies only seemed to be active in sunny conditions during the middle of the day. This seemed to be true both in the open areas as well as within the forest. I found most of the larger species such as swallowtails and Morphos were hard to photograph. They tended to zip by without stopping. The smaller butterflies were more cooperative and I eventually was able to take quite a number of pics. I think that I photographed somewhere around half the species that I encountered. I am including what I think to be the names of these insects but please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. One thing that I discovered on the net is that butterfly classification like everything else has changed over the last few years. It seems now that most of the butterflies have been merged into Nymphalidae. I still prefer to think of Heliconidae, Ithomyidae, Satyridae and the like but it seems that these are now tribes of Nymphs.

Scarlet Peakcock (_Anartia fatima_) -- common along edges of roads or the periphery of the forest.








White Peacock (_Anartia jatrophae_)







Tropical Buckeye (_Junoniae varete_) -- Here are three individuals that illustrate variability in pattern and colour.
















_Adelpha sp_. -- very much like a Sister Butterfly in southern California.







_Aenea sp._ One of the "filthy habit" butterflies that sip moisture from animal faeces. I love this enduring term used by the lepidopterists.











Prola Beauty (_Panacea prola_) -- This butterfly was amazing. The outer lower wing was red but it always landed like this. I could not take a photo of the underwing colour. It seemed to exhibit curiosity and it would hover and even briefly land on us. This is another one of the "filthy habit" butterflies.











_Archaeoprepona amphimachus_ -- This was a big Nymphalid that dropped to the trail and walked with its wings closed. It would occasionally flick its wings and the turquoise stripe shimmered each time. I thought the entire wing must be blue so was surprised when it perched and opened its wings to reveal only a small stripe of blue. The butterfly seemed to be curious and it hovered around me for a few moments before ascending and landing on a sunlit leaf.











_Historis odius_ -- The inner surface of the wings were a beautiful orange and black. When closed, the wings resembled a dead leaf. The butterfly flew aboard the Nenita and was trapped in the dining room. It was responsive to the flash and would flick its wings slightly open when I photographed it. This butterfly is widely distributed and I saw it years ago in Nayarit.












"80" Buttefly (_Callicore candrena_) -- These butterflies would normally hold their wings closed but this one reacted to the flash and I was able to take an in-focus shot of the opened wings. 











Another _Callicore sp._-- "89" Butterfly When opened, the wings were striped scarlet and a deep, iridescent purple. Stunning!







_Eresia nauplius_ -- This butterfly behaved like one of the aeroplane butterflies in Australia.







unknown 1: I found this butterfly at night. I initially thought it to be a moth until I saw its clubbed antennae. The wings were iridescent green.











A Daggerwing (_Marpesia petreus_) -- This beauty had lovely orange wings but it would always flick them in response to the flash. I could not take any nice shots of its upper wings.







Another Daggerwing -- It also gave me a hard time but I finally was able to take a shot where it held its wings open.








_Morpho sp._ -- These giant, gorgeous butterflies were common. Unfortunately, I almost always saw them in flight. They really were a dazzling sight as they flew low along the trails. We found a few asleep at night on branches that overhung creeks. The outer surface of the wings had many spots and they vaguely resembled the Owl Butterflies.








_Morpho sp._ -- This was a "half-and-half" morpho with half of the inner surface black and the other a glistening turquoise.








_Morpho achilles_ -- This rather drab morpho actually landed for a few minutes and held its wings open. For morphos, this seems to be a rare event at least in the forest understorey.












Owl Butterfly (_Calligo sp_.) -- Their inner wings were a dull orange and purple. These were crepuscular butterflies. I usually saw them in flight at dusk along the Rio Orosa.







_Temenis laothoe_ -- another beauty that would flick its wings to the camera flash. I obtained one out of focus shot of the inner wings but at least the amazing colours can be seen.











_Hamadryas laodamia_ -- I only saw one of these at the toilet block of Santa Cruz.







_Colobura dirce_ -- I love the disruptive pattern on the outer wings. The butterfly landed on a vine and slowly approached the other. It touched it with its feet and tongue before sipping something on the surface of the plant. I think that these are two different butterfly species.











_Bia actorion_ -- yet another interesting Nymphalid. Ed caught one so that we could examine the inner wings.











_Eunica eurota_ -- It had dark lower wings but it fortunately flicked these open when I took the photo. The inner wings are beautiful.







_Nessaea sp._ -- I only saw one of these pretty Nymphalids at Madre Selva.







_Philaethria dido_ -- We saw these pretty butterflies on several occasions. This one was yet another butterfly that sipped at drying clothes.







_Oleriao nega?_ -- It was initially caught in the web of a spider. After I took this photo, it flicked its wings and then was free. This wing shape was typical of many butterflies that lived within the forest interior. Most Heliconiinae, Ithomyiinae, some Pieridae and some Nymphalidae all share this wing shape.







Clearwing butterflies like this were common but hard to photograph. They were almost invisible in the dark interior of the forest.







One of the Longwings (probably _Heliconius sara_):















Another _Heliconius_. There are a number of very similar species so I don't know which of these it is.










Julia (_Dryas julia_)







I love the wing shape but don't know what family/tribe it is:







_Eresia eunice_? -- lovely and common at Madre Selva.











_Vila emilian_? 







Metal Marks were common and some of these were absolutely spectacular.
Arcius Swordtail (_Rhetus arcius_) -- -- Incredible! I saw a few but usually they would drop beneath a leaf where I could not photograph them. This one was cooperative and remained here on the ground for several minutes. It completely ignored the flashing camera.







_Semomesia sp_. -- I saw several of these lovely blue metal marks at the Allpahuayo Mishona reserve. Many had black spiral markings on the upper wing.







Eyemark (_Mesosemia scotina_) -- Only seen at Allapahuayo Mishona.







_Charis cleonus_ -- I like the delicate scales along the edge of the wings.











_Lasaia agesilas_ -- one of these was licking the sweaty label of a shirt.















_Amarynthis meneria_ -- A pretty species that I saw a few times at Santa Cruz.







_Calydna punctata_ -- a few observed at Santa Cruz.







_Metacharis lucius_ -- once only at Santa Cruz.








_Adelotypa huebneri_?. Like many of this tribe, it would land beneath a leaf where photography was awkward.







Satyurinae were abundant within the forest. Many had clear or translucent wings so were hard to see clearly in the dim light of the understorey. These butterflies were often seen as they flew a few cms above the leaf litter. Those with clear wings were particularly hard to follow.
_Hermeuptychia sp_.?







_Haetera sp_.?











_Haetera sp_.?







_Haetera sp_.?















One of the hairstreaks. I did not see many of this family at all in the forest.







Skippers were numerous. The most common of these had broad wings that they held open when sitting.















One of the longtails (_Polythrixor sp_.)?







Moths










Same family (Uraniidae) as the Zodiac Moth up in the tropics of far northern Queensland.






A rather standard looking Sphyinx:






A wonderful wasp mimic:







Stinging Caterpillars


















Regards,
David


----------



## dames1978 (Feb 10, 2010)

Awsome pics!!! Beautiful


----------



## Sdaji (Feb 10, 2010)

Wow! What an incredible series of photographs! I don't know how you manage to find the time to take, sort, identify and label all those pictures. Brilliant work!


----------



## ChrisZhang (Feb 10, 2010)

Great photos!! Love the caterpillars and the sword tails!


----------



## moloch05 (Feb 11, 2010)

Thanks for the comments.

I had a great time observing these animals and trying to take photos. The diversity is truly astounding.

Regards,
David


----------



## aspidito (Feb 11, 2010)

Thanks for sharing one of the best set of wildlife photos I have seen for many years, butterflies are one of the greatest entomological subjects & you have done a brilliant job. 
Can you give us a few details of the trip.
Cheers, Paul.


----------



## redbellybite (Feb 11, 2010)

ALWAYS ALWAYS love your threads  ...have not failed ever to facinate me ....love the pix ...


----------



## Noongato (Feb 11, 2010)

Hehe looking good as much as i can see, ill have to check back when my broadband speeds up again


----------



## Bretsta (Feb 11, 2010)

awesome. great work


----------



## moloch05 (Feb 11, 2010)

Thanks very much, everyone. I am glad that the photos were enjoyed.

Paul,
I had more background info in my first post:
http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/...3/peruvian-amazon-1-iquitos-and-rivers-129377

I travelled with Margarita Tours for 10 days. The trip started at Iquitos and then visited a couple of the Project Amazonas biological research stations. These stations are private reserves. Madre Selva has old second growth forest with an open forest understorey. Santa Cruz must have been cut in recent years so the vegetation is thick and the trees are not all that big except along a few creeks.

I would highly recommend this company if you are interested in natural history. They will help you find whatever interests you whether it be reptiles, birds, butterflies, fish ...

My friends and I also visited the Allpahauyo Mishona Reserve on our four days before/after the tour. This reserve is located near Iquitos and it supports primary forest. The big attraction here was white sand forest, a habitat where the trees are stunted but covered with mosses, orchids and bromeliads. Birdlife was very different to what we encountered in the varzea (flooded forests) of the field station. This site was also home to a gorgeous dart frog, Dendrobates reticulatis. I will have photos of it in my final post.


Regards,
David


----------

