A Swift Guide to Butterflies of Mexico and Central America

311 Pages·2018·134.542 MB·English

by  Jeffrey Glassberg

A Swift Guide

to the
Butterflies Mexico
of
Central America
and
Second Edition

A Swift Guide
to
Butterflies Mexico
the of
Central America
and
by
Second Edition
Jeffrey
Glassberg
Princeton University Press
Princeton and Oxford
Acknowledgements knowledge of foodplants and speciation.
My wife, Jane Vicroy Scott, accompanied Thanks also to Roberto de la Maza, Jr.,
me on many trips, and made many sugges- Alida Enkerlin, Thomas and Domingo Ro-
tions about the text and layout. Surpris- driguez, Jane Ruffin, Andres and Pilar Sada,
ingly, my extended absences while in the Lucy Sada, Tino Sanchez, Jane V. Scott,
field caused her some dismay. Her love and Jenn Sinasac, and Jim Springer for accom-
big heart are what nurtured this project. See panying me on forays into the field.
pg. 294. For the first edition, Barbara Ribble’s
About 2800 of the approximately 3700 and Jane V. Scott’s careful eyes found
photographs in this book were taken by the typographical errors while Jason Hall, Bob
author, but other photographers provided Robbins, Jane V. Scott and Keith Wilmott,
many wonderful photographs that increase looked over all or portions of this work
the usefulness of this guide. Thanks to all and each made useful suggestions for its
of them for allowing their photographs to improvement. My heartfelt thanks to all of
be used in this work. I’d like to especially you.
thank Will and Gill Carter, Kim Garwood,
Dan Janzen and Winnie Hallwachs, John
Kemner, Jean-Claude Petit and Pierre © 2017 by Jeffrey Glassberg
Boyer, and Jane Ruffin, each of whom not
only provided more than 50 photographs, Published by Princeton University Press,
but also took the significant time and effort 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey
to find the photos and to deliver them to me. 08540
Museum visits were crucial in prepar-
ing the first edition of this work. Thanks to All rights reserved. No part of this publica-
Dave Grimaldi, Jim Miller and Eric Quinter tion may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
at the American Museum of Natural His- system, or transmitted, in any form or by
tory, New York, to John Burns, Don Harvey any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-
and Bob Robbins at the United States copying, recording or otherwise, without
National Museum, Smithsonian Institution the express and prior written permission of
and to George Austin, Tom Emmel, Jackie the publisher.
and Lee Miller, and Steve Steinhauser at the
Allyn Museum/McGuire Center in Sara-
sota/Gainesville, Florida for allowing me to ISBN 978-0-691-17648-2
work with specimens under their care. Library of Congress Control Number:
A large number of people have contrib- 2017951508
uted to our understanding of Mexican and Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
Central American butterflies and so it would
Printed in China
be impossible to thank them all here. For
Mexico, I need to single out the de la Maza
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
family, the UNAM-based group of Jorge
Llorente, and John Kemner. Their distribu-
tion records contributed greatly to the maps
Half-title page: A Wavy-lined Sunstreak (Arcas
in this book. For Central America, the
cypria)
thorough work of Dan Janzen and Win-
nie Hallwachs in the Guanacaste region of
Title page: A Black-patched Bluemark (Lasaia
Costa Rica has led to an explosion of our agesilas)
Contents
Introduction Welcome to Mexico 1
1
Mexican Ecosystems 4
About the Plates 5
Abbreviations 6
About the Maps 6
Swallowtails
Swallowtails 8
8
Whites 21
Whites and
Yellows Yellows 29
21
Mimic-Whites 33
Gossamer- Hairstreaks 36
wings
36 Coppers and Blues 57
Metalmarks
Metalmarks 58
58
Actinotes, True-Brushfoots 86
Brushfoots Admirals and Relatives 109
86
Leafwings and Emperors 136
Owls, Satyrs, Monarchs, Ticlears 150
Firetips 170
Eudamini 175
Skippers Spreadwing Skippers 175
Pyrgini 205
170
Skipperlings 234
Grass-Skippers 242
Conclusion Selected Bibliography 290
290 Selected Websites 292
About NABA 293
Dedication 294
Index 296
Photo Credits 299
Visual Index 302

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Mexico and Central America
and the World of Butterflies!
Mexico and Central America, vast and varied, both old and new, are some of the greatest
places on earth to see and enjoy butterflies. Mexico offers a hard to beat combination of
great diversity and amazing abundance. The more than 2400 butterfly species found in
Mexico and Central America (about 1750 in Mexico alone) represent more than 10% of
the world’s total species. Many of these beautiful creatures can be found nowhere else.
Just as importantly for your enjoyment, Mexico more consistently has greater concen-
trations of butterflies than perhaps anywhere else. In northern Mexico, there are times
during peak butterfly seasons when one has very limited visibility looking down trails,
because the warm, late summer air is saturated with butterflies! In Chiapas, as I walked
down a trail to an ancient Mayan ruin set deep in the Lacandonan rain forest, butterflies
actually interfered with my search for other butterflies, as scores of Many-banded, Pale
and Ruddy Daggerwings and other large brushfoots such as Orion Cecropians, landed all
over me, including on my face and arms.
About This Book
The first thing to consider when creating a book is “what is the purpose of the book?”
The purpose of this book is to help people to identify the butterflies of Mexico and
Central America. Very little information that is not directly related to this purpose is in-
cluded. In addition, all text is embedded in the photographs, allowing swift access in the
field. By separating biological information from field identification plates, one can create
a more portable, affordable, field guide. Other key considerations for field guide effec-
tiveness are image size and layout. At one end of the spectrum, some authors place one
species per plate. Although this allows illustrations of butterflies at a large size, it doesn’t
allow one to easily compare many similar species. At the other end of the spectrum, spe-
cies are sometimes illustrated at sizes that are too small to see the features one needs to
identify the butterflies. In this work, I have tried to steer a middle course. When possible,
similar species are placed so that the reader can view and compare all of them at once.
For example, all the blue heliconians appear on a two-page spread. In some cases, for
example, “blue” leafwings, groups include too many similar species to place on a single
two-page spread.
In order to facilitate identification, images of butterflies are arranged so that similar
species can be easily compared. This means rotating images to align the butterflies in
similar orientations so that you don’t need to perform mental gymnastics to compare
them.
Previous Page: A mudpuddle collection in Chiapas. Visible are Polydamus
Swallowtails, Florida Whites, Great Southern Whites, Apricot Sulphurs, a Cloud-
less Sulphur, Statira Sulphurs, Yellow Angled-Sulphurs, a Little Yellow, a Tailed
Orange, Julia Heliconians, Many-banded Daggerwings, a Ruddy Daggerwing,
and a Tailed Cecropian.
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INTRODUCTION
Whenever possible, the images are of live butterflies, taken in the field (photos of
more than 1500 living species are shown). Living butterflies hold their wings in positions
that differ from those of mounted museum specimens. For example, an obvious differ-
ence is that live grass-skippers spread their hindwings flat but open their forewings only
partially, appearing very different from completely flat-spread museum specimens. A less
often noted difference is that when landed with their wings closed, living skippers fold
under the trailing edge of their hindwings, hiding about one-fifth of the wing. Thus, the
shape of the hindwing, especially the length versus the width, may appear very different
in the field than on museum specimens. In addition, relatively fresh individuals often
have distinctive sheens that are useful for identification; these sheens are lost upon aging
and after death, as are some markings on the butterfly’s body and especially its eye color.
All photographs of live butterflies taken by the author are of wild, unrestrained but-
terflies, except for five photographs taken in butterfly zoos. In the great majority of cases,
photographs are of butterflies in Mexico or Central America, because in some cases,
populations of the same species flying outside of this area have a slightly (or sometimes
greatly) different appearance. A minority of photographs were taken of butterflies that
were flying in the United States or South America.
When good quality photographs of live butterflies of a particular species were not
available, then I photographed museum specimens. Museum specimens were normally
photographed with a blue background, which was then removed in Photoshop and
replaced with a green (usually) or other-colored background. The bluish tint around the
fringes of some of the specimen images is an artifact of the original blue background.
Please note that many of the museum specimens illustrated have pin holes and tears
in their wings. These holes and tears can usually be distinguished from actual wing spots
because they are usually not symmetrical on both wings (on topside views) and because
the background color can be seen through the hole. Most users of this guide will already
be familiar with butterflies and butterfly identification. Beginners should consult But-
terflies of North America (Barnes & Noble, 2002) or A Swift Guide to Butterflies of North
America (Princeton University Press, 2016) for general information about butterflies.
This work should allow you to identify to species most Mexican and Central
America butterflies that you see (well) or photograph (clearly). However, there will be
many groups that are difficult and some that will be close to impossible (see scintillant
metalmarks and many of the brown-skippers). Prior to this guide, the only other modern
work that attempted something like a complete treatment of a Central or South American
country’s butterfly fauna was the two-volume Butterflies of Costa Rica by Phil DeVries.
Understandably, that work did not include hairstreaks or skippers, because so little has
been known about these groups. I have included hairstreaks and skippers, with the under-
standing that some of the illustrations will be mislabeled and that some of the suggested
field marks, based upon limited sample size, will prove to be unreliable. In a fair number
of cases you will have to settle for identifying the butterfly as one of a small number of
possible species, because, so far as I am aware, present knowledge doesn’t allow us to
separate these species in the field. In most of these cases photos of museum specimens
identified as the species in question are shown without any other identification informa-
tion, and the identification given should be considered to be tentative.
2
INTRODUCTION
For many difficult to identify butterflies, especially hairstreaks and skippers, it is
useful to note the size of the butterfly, using the length of the forewing (measured from
its base to its apex). Obviously, in the field you will not be able to measure the exact size
of the wing, but with experience you should be able to estimate the approximate size or
realize that it is the same size, or larger, or smaller, than other species with which you are
familiar.
It will also ultimately prove to be useful to note the elevation at which your unknown
butterfly is seen, as many species have distinct elevational ranges, although there is little
detailed information available yet for most Mexican and Central American species.
Names
My intention in all cases, if a species has been given a name by the NABA Names Com-
mittee, is to use both the English and scientific names used on the NABA Checklist and
English Names of North American Butterflies (Cassie, et al. 2001)(available at www.
naba.org). For species not on the NABA Checklist, I generally use the scientific names
of the Atlas of Neotropical Butterflies (Lamas, G. [Ed.] 2004). Exceptions to the Atlas
scientific names are for genus names where the NABA Checklist clearly intends another
genus name. For example, Dark Kite-Swallowtail is Eurytides philolaus on the NABA
Checklist, but placed in the split genus Protographium in the Atlas. Its relative, Short-
lined Kite-Swallowtail, is not on the NABA list, but would clearly be placed in the genus
Eurytides, not Protographium, and so I treat it as Eurytides agesilaus.
For species not on the NABA Checklist, in most cases I have had to create an English
name. Many of these names were created over the past twenty years for participants in
Sunstreak Tours trips (www.sunstreaktours.com). When creating English names for but-
terflies I have tried, where possible, to coin names that would provide some identification
help in the field. Some, such as Orange Kite-Swallowtail (Eurytides thyastes), are obvi-
ous choices. Others, such as Pointer Sister (Adelpha iphiclus), where the name refers to a
small “pointer,” an extension on the forewing apical orange spot that is usually lacking on
other sisters, are less obvious but very useful nonetheless. Because a mix of name types
may be the easiest to learn, I also created names that refer to areas where the species is
found (Oaxacan Swallowtail, Papilio esperanza), or refer to the person who described
the species (Freeman’s Firetip, Pyrrhopyge hoffmanni). There are whimsical names, such
as Phat Redhead, Esthemopsis pherephatte (Species in this group have red heads and phat
is street patois for really good) or, in desperation, refer to the scientific name of the spe-
cies (I say “in desperation” because some of these names are difficult to pronounce and
because if and when the scientific name is changed — which happens quite often — then
the English name is left referring to a void).
In creating these names, I considered the butterfly fauna of the entire Neotropics, not
just of Mexico and Central America, because butterfliers will eventually want to have
English names for all these species. For example, Callicore pitheas is striped brilliant
red and black above, unlike any other Mexican eighty-eight. But, there are quite a few
other species of non-Mexican eighty-eights that have similar patterns above. There-
fore, I named this species, Two-eyed Eighty-eight, referring to a unique pattern on its
underside. Also, in considering the entire Neotropics, new group names for butterflies,
3