Tony Moore

[Tony Moore]

Many thanks, David, Wurzel and Ernie,

Montenegro is indeed a beautiful place - we may try to go back in the Spring, when I'm sure it will be heaving with butterflies. Whatever, it will be a good memory to help through the drear winter days.

Tony M.

[David M]

Montenegro is indeed a beautiful place - we may try to go back in the Spring, when I'm sure it will be heaving with butterflies.

They'll largely be different butterflies too, Tony.

Given its latitude, I'm sure a spring visit will reap rewards, and I'd be very interested to see what you might find.

[Tony Moore]

Having seen no British Small Coppers this year, I was delighted to see 50+ very fresh ones in the warm sunshine at Aqualate Mere two afternoons ago. There was plenty of young Sorrel about and every clump had a few eggs:

.

Are these third generation larvae likely to survive? I'll attempt to rear a few through (outdoors).

Tony M.

[essexbuzzard]

Great sightings and pictures from Montenegro, Tony. Now a return trip in spring, late April or May perhaps, should provide you with some cracking stuff! And make the rest of us with envy!

[Tony Moore]

Thanks EB for your kind remarks. Montenegro is a stunning place and, because of the variety, would make a good family holiday destination - plenty for everyone. End of second commercial .

Tony M,

[David M]

Nice image of the egg, Tony. I'm not surprised there are lots about given the numbers of adults lately. I'm most surprised you haven't seen any.

Good luck with the rearing, although given that cold weather doesn't generally arrive before late December these days in southern britain, I'm sure the larvae will do okay.

[Ian Pratt]

Just finishing a 12 day trip to see the Fair Trade producers in Costa Rica. Loads of flowers, birds, butterflies and mammals seen. I will post some of the butterflies when I get back, including some to be identified by all the experts on this site! Put Costa Rica at the top of your wish list if you want to see amazing wildlife.

[Tony Moore]

Just back from two weeks in Tobago – an interesting country, butterflywise. Although it only boasts a fifth of the Trinidad species (150 to 670+), it is very little researched and new species are still found. The only available book is Barcant 1970, which concerns itself mainly with rarity and collecting, and is now hopelessly out of date. I am indebted to Dr Malcolm Cock for his seminal work in Insecta Mundi (April 2017) on the butterflies of Tobago, in which he unravels the mis-identifications and omissions of past collectors and updates the taxonomy. He was also very kind in helping me with some IDs.
I was staying in the south of the island, near the capital, Scarborough and was very fortunate in there being a small area of hillside (about 100 x 50 mtrs)close to the hotel, which had been cleared a couple of years back and was now covered in light secondary growth. It was heaving with butterflies! I visited it twelve times and saw new species at every visit! I managed photographs of 27 species and must have seen half a dozen more. There were large Yellows, Whites and Apricots zooming about and several Skippers that I missed.

The commonest species was probably the White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae). An elegant butterfly with a rapid flight:

This was followed by the Hermes Satyr (Hermeuptychia hermes), a Gatekeeper-sized Satyrid, which had an odd habit of shrugging its shoulders quickly as it settled. It often sat open-winged, but closed up at any movement or sound:

I was reminded of Sylvie's excellent report from Arizona on the first morning, when I watched a Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) eclose. It was very windy and this was the best I managed:

Whilst watching the Sulphur expand its wings, I had failed to notice a tiny 'hairstreak' on a flower head right in front of me . It was the only Suzanna's Groundstreak (Calycopsis origo) that I saw:

Red Peacocks (Anartia amathia) were common along roadside verges:

Small Postmen (mans? persons??) (Heliconius erato tobagoensis) patrolled the forest edge most days. This subspecies lacks the yellowish under hw band of the nominate examples:

More tomorrow...

Tony M.

[Wurzel]

Wow, wow, wow It must be amazing to be somewhere which such a range of different species - cracking shots one and all as well I might have to stop reading this to to a case of extreme envy

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Nice work, Tony. Tobago may only have 150 or so species but when one takes a look at its size on a map.....

I look forward to seeing the rest of your report.

[Padfield]

Fascinating, Tony. I look forward to the rest of your pictures and commentary. I have Barcant but as you imply, it's of very limited use as a field guide, especially given how out of date it is.

For anyone interested, that Insecta Mundi document is online here: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewc ... sectamundi.

Keep them coming - I'm missing butterflies!

Guy

[Tony Moore]

Thanks Wurzel, David and Guy for your kind remarks.
I do feel very fortunate to have the opportunities to see these exotic species, mainly due to the kind offices of my lovely wife, who is keeper of the purse strings in our house . I only wish I'd started 40 years ago...

Tobago. 2.
A shot of the coast from Fort King George:

There were several 'longtail' Skippers seen, the Dorantes Longtail (Urbanus dorantes looked very black in flight:

Tanna Longtail (U. tanna):

and White-striped Longtail (Chioides catillus) were also occasional visitors:

I only saw one Malicious Skipper (Synapte malitiosa), which seemed quite placid to me...

The Tropical Buckeye (Junonia zonalis) was seen in several places on the island, usually on dusty roadside verges, but they were difficuolt to approach:

The White Sailor (Dynamine theseus) is a delightful little butterfly, which hangs about its foodplant (a shrub not yet identified), and chases off any intruders:

I include this poor shot of a battered Cyan Greatstreak (Pseudocaena marsyas) – the only example I saw as it shows the amazing upper wing colour. It flashed away in a dazzle of electric blue:

Another poor shot, I'm afraid – one of only three specimens of the Least Heliconian (Eueides aliphera) seen. Mr Sod invoked his law when a stunning fresh one was seen near King Georges Fort, when I was cameraless – ggrrr!

During the two weeks, I only had one opportunity at any of the large Whites and Yellows which were whizzing around. It turned out to be the Great Southern White (Ascia monuste):

TBC...

[David M]

Beautiful, Tony. That Cyan Greatstreak makes a Purple Emperor seem dull in comparison!

[Tony Moore]

Tobago 3

The Tobagan national bird is the indigenous Mot-mot, which I was pleased to see on a visit to the central ridge:

There had been several whitish, slow flying butterflies near the forest edge of my site, which were all very worn and resisted identification. Near where the Mot-mot was seen, I came across a freshly emerged example:

This was finally ID'ed as the South American Mestra (Mestra hersilia). The Common Mestra (M. anymone) – which does not occur in Tobago - has a wide apricot border to the hw and was the only one pictured in my Swift guide to Central America.

The Cassius Blue (Leptotes cassius) is common in the region, but apparently gets less blue the further East it is found:

Another delicate little white butterfly (Large Blue sized) was the Ghost Yellow (Eurema albula):

In one very small area I found a Fridericus Spreadwing (Ouleus fridericus sheldoni):

I watched it on five mornings, patrolling its one sq mtr area. On the sixth morning, a couple of fresh ones appeared and it was vanquished. In contest, the males spin in tiny circles at astonishing speed appearing to be black and white; in this Tobagan subspecies, the back half of the hw underside is pure white. They were very difficult to photograph as they sat in dark vegetation and if flash was attempted, the pre-flash frightened them off.

In this part of the world, I hoped to see some riodinids.
I took pix of a couple of dull looking little butterflies and it was not until I processed the shots that I realised that there were two species, and both Riodinidae (d'oh!).
Common Theope (Theope virgilius):

And Orange-and-blue Theope (Theope eudocia):

The first has bright blue uppers and the second is mainly bright orange. A bit unfair of them to keep these beautiful colours hidden...

My prize metalmark was the Orange-barred Pixie (Melanis electron):

I saw several of these, only on one small bush and always between 0800 and 0900. Although supposedly common, they were a neotropical highlight for yours truly.

The most spectacular species seen was, as Sylvie thought in Arizona, the magnificent Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae):

Not a fritillary at all, but a heliconian. I saw several every day and they were in sparkling condition.

Hope these species have brightened some Januaries and please can I go back again....

Tony M.

[bugboy]

You really do get about don't you tony! Love the Motmot and that Mestra is very beautiful. I'd not come across that genus before which prompted me to google it. What fabulous larvae they have!
http://www.butterfliesofamerica.com/L/t/Mestra_a.htm
It's worth noting that the larger Fritillaries are actually in the Heliconiinae subfamily, so the Gulf Fritillary is closer to them than you may think

[Tony Moore]

Thanks for the link, Bugboy.

A very unusual larva indeed. The adults flap about like Wood Whites and it was odd that of many dozens that I saw in my bit of hillside, none was in pristine condition.

Tony M.

[David M]

...Hope these species have brightened some Januaries and please can I go back again....

They sure have, Tony, particularly Gulf Fritillary and that delectable Cassius Blue.

[Wurzel]

A fantastic array again - the Orange-barred Pixie doesn't look real, it looks like something that's been handed to a toddler with a paint set Are the Long-tails related to the Skippers as they have a Skippeish look about them?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Tony Moore]

Thanks, Wurzel,

Yes, the longtails are Skippers (mainly neotropical, I think) of various genera. If you google 'Longtail Skippers' you'll have enough to keep you going for the rest of the Winter .
My favourite - not a true longtail - is the Two-barred Flasher (Astraptes fulgerator), which was common in Costa Rica, but sadly, not found in Tobago.

Tony M.

[David M]

My favourite - not a true longtail - is the Two-barred Flasher (Astraptes fulgerator), which was common in Costa Rica, but sadly, not found in Tobago.

I can see why, Tony. The vivid blue colour extends even to the body!