Cuba Preview
Cuba Preview
Ye Gods, it is cold and dreary here in Blighty! Us poor butterfly addicts are now entering the toughest part of the year, where spirits drop, darkness prevails, and the reality of the UK winter begins to set in with a vengeance.
It has been a few months since I last posted here.
My wife (Vicki) and I have just returned from two fabulous weeks in Cuba. I have a shed load of photographs to go through and sort and edit, but having just got home, and in anticipation of a few days of jetlag slowing me down, I thought I would share a very brief preview of the butterfly highlights of our trip, in the hope that it may warm some cockles and take minds away from the current reality of UK existence.
Lots more to follow in due course, but for now I give you the Tropical Buckeye, the Gulf Fritillary, the sensational Fulvous Hairstreak, and the rather splendid Cuban Common Calisto.
Enjoy at your leisure...
It has been a few months since I last posted here.
My wife (Vicki) and I have just returned from two fabulous weeks in Cuba. I have a shed load of photographs to go through and sort and edit, but having just got home, and in anticipation of a few days of jetlag slowing me down, I thought I would share a very brief preview of the butterfly highlights of our trip, in the hope that it may warm some cockles and take minds away from the current reality of UK existence.
Lots more to follow in due course, but for now I give you the Tropical Buckeye, the Gulf Fritillary, the sensational Fulvous Hairstreak, and the rather splendid Cuban Common Calisto.
Enjoy at your leisure...
Re: Cuba Preview
As always looking forward to a cracking trip report Pete. I have birded Cuba but unfortunately before I was 'into' butterflies. looking forward to seeing what I missed out on! ![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
Re: Cuba Preview
Wow! You've got a lot to live up to having posted those four beauties, Pete!
Looking forward to seeing the full range.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Looking forward to seeing the full range.
Re: Cuba Preview
Thanks Steve and David – I hope I haven’t peaked too soon! The above four were particularly memorable images that I went straight for after downloading the 1200+ files from my camera. Hope you enjoy what’s to follow…
We had chosen a hotel on the north coast of Cuba as our base for two weeks, situated halfway between Havana and Varadero and about an hour from Varadero airport. The hotel was surrounded by forest, scrub and lightly grazed grassland, a key factor in the choice of location. Of course, I had already taken a good look around the immediate area on Google Earth, and was hoping it would provide some decent butterfly habitat. I was not to be disappointed!
Our only previous experience of Central America has been three fantastic trips out to Costa Rica, which sets a pretty high bar when it comes to biodiversity in general and butterflies in particular. As an island, albeit a large one, Cuba has as you would expect a much smaller butterfly fauna than Costa Rica, a mere fraction of the number in fact, with the Cuban species count coming in at around the 200 species mark. As you would also rightly expect from an island, there are a good number of endemics to be found at species and sub-species level.
We arrived at dusk on Wednesday 22nd November, refuelled in the buffet restaurant, enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine and then retired for the night, tired after the tedium of a ten hour trans-atlantic flight. The five-hour time differential guaranteed that we were up early on Thursday morning, enchanted by the different sounds of the local dawn chorus, and after an early breakfast we were out exploring the immediate vicinity. Butterflies appeared from the off…
Local habitat
Three species were extremely numerous in among the mosaic of scrub and grasslands close to the hotel.
I have already introduced you to the Cuban Common Calisto. This is one of 16 species of Calisto found on the island, most of which are rather localised with several only found at the far east of Cuba, but the Common Cuban Calisto or “CCC” as we soon began to call it for the sake of brevity, is widespread and numerous. It appears quite drab on the wing as it flits along the shadier edges of roads, tracks and around scrub, and you could be excused for disregarding it, but get up close to that underside and it is a real beauty with substantial “wow” factor! Certainly one of my favourites from this trip. Do I need to mention that it is an endemic species?
Cuban Common Calisto – Calisto herophile
Alongside the hundreds of “CCC”s that we encountered daily, the next most common butterfly was the White Peacock, a familiar old friend from Costa Rica, but represented here by a different subspecies.
White Peacock – Anartia jatrophae guantanamo
Also in great abundance was the Tropical Buckeye, already pictured above.
We were fortunate to be accompanied all fortnight by very good numbers of four particularly iconic butterflies of the Americas, namely the Zebra Longwing, the Julia (the Cuban endemic subspecies), the Gulf Fritillary and the stunning Malachite, a huge green monster of a beast. One morning a large hatch had occurred, and we had the pleasure of watching dozens of these vivid emerald beauties at nectar, zooming around and interacting with one another – it doesn’t get much better than that in my world!
Zebra Longwing – Heliconius charithonia ramsdeni
Julia – Dryas iulia nudeola
Gulf Fritillary – Dione vanillae insularis
Malachite – Siproeta stelenes
Two new species for us were the Cuban Crescent and the Phaon Crescent, smallish fritillary-like butterflies of grassland and light scrubby areas that love to sit and flick their wings open and shut incessantly, especially if a camera is pointing in their general direction.
Cuban Crescent – Anthanassa frisia frisia
Phaon Crescent – Phyciodes phaon phaon
And to finish off this instalment, another newbie, first spotted by Vicki when it appeared as an intense flash of bright orange before disappearing into a bush. This was the Caribbean Banner, very orange on top and in flight, but with a delightful semi-cryptic underside pattern. These beauties almost always showed up in twos or threes, and were quite localised, even at a local level, preferring certain individual bushes scattered across a wide area. They didn’t often open their wings when at rest. This is the Cuban endemic subspecies.
Caribbean Banner – Lucinia sida sida
Further instalments to follow, including some pretty small butterflies, some white and orange beasts, an especially huge species, and of course a party selection box of Skippers; well, this is the Americas after all. I might even throw in a bit of background culture and history, who knows…time for a wine break to take the edge off the jetlag.
Hasta pronto!
We had chosen a hotel on the north coast of Cuba as our base for two weeks, situated halfway between Havana and Varadero and about an hour from Varadero airport. The hotel was surrounded by forest, scrub and lightly grazed grassland, a key factor in the choice of location. Of course, I had already taken a good look around the immediate area on Google Earth, and was hoping it would provide some decent butterfly habitat. I was not to be disappointed!
Our only previous experience of Central America has been three fantastic trips out to Costa Rica, which sets a pretty high bar when it comes to biodiversity in general and butterflies in particular. As an island, albeit a large one, Cuba has as you would expect a much smaller butterfly fauna than Costa Rica, a mere fraction of the number in fact, with the Cuban species count coming in at around the 200 species mark. As you would also rightly expect from an island, there are a good number of endemics to be found at species and sub-species level.
We arrived at dusk on Wednesday 22nd November, refuelled in the buffet restaurant, enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine and then retired for the night, tired after the tedium of a ten hour trans-atlantic flight. The five-hour time differential guaranteed that we were up early on Thursday morning, enchanted by the different sounds of the local dawn chorus, and after an early breakfast we were out exploring the immediate vicinity. Butterflies appeared from the off…
Local habitat
Three species were extremely numerous in among the mosaic of scrub and grasslands close to the hotel.
I have already introduced you to the Cuban Common Calisto. This is one of 16 species of Calisto found on the island, most of which are rather localised with several only found at the far east of Cuba, but the Common Cuban Calisto or “CCC” as we soon began to call it for the sake of brevity, is widespread and numerous. It appears quite drab on the wing as it flits along the shadier edges of roads, tracks and around scrub, and you could be excused for disregarding it, but get up close to that underside and it is a real beauty with substantial “wow” factor! Certainly one of my favourites from this trip. Do I need to mention that it is an endemic species?
Cuban Common Calisto – Calisto herophile
Alongside the hundreds of “CCC”s that we encountered daily, the next most common butterfly was the White Peacock, a familiar old friend from Costa Rica, but represented here by a different subspecies.
White Peacock – Anartia jatrophae guantanamo
Also in great abundance was the Tropical Buckeye, already pictured above.
We were fortunate to be accompanied all fortnight by very good numbers of four particularly iconic butterflies of the Americas, namely the Zebra Longwing, the Julia (the Cuban endemic subspecies), the Gulf Fritillary and the stunning Malachite, a huge green monster of a beast. One morning a large hatch had occurred, and we had the pleasure of watching dozens of these vivid emerald beauties at nectar, zooming around and interacting with one another – it doesn’t get much better than that in my world!
Zebra Longwing – Heliconius charithonia ramsdeni
Julia – Dryas iulia nudeola
Gulf Fritillary – Dione vanillae insularis
Malachite – Siproeta stelenes
Two new species for us were the Cuban Crescent and the Phaon Crescent, smallish fritillary-like butterflies of grassland and light scrubby areas that love to sit and flick their wings open and shut incessantly, especially if a camera is pointing in their general direction.
Cuban Crescent – Anthanassa frisia frisia
Phaon Crescent – Phyciodes phaon phaon
And to finish off this instalment, another newbie, first spotted by Vicki when it appeared as an intense flash of bright orange before disappearing into a bush. This was the Caribbean Banner, very orange on top and in flight, but with a delightful semi-cryptic underside pattern. These beauties almost always showed up in twos or threes, and were quite localised, even at a local level, preferring certain individual bushes scattered across a wide area. They didn’t often open their wings when at rest. This is the Cuban endemic subspecies.
Caribbean Banner – Lucinia sida sida
Further instalments to follow, including some pretty small butterflies, some white and orange beasts, an especially huge species, and of course a party selection box of Skippers; well, this is the Americas after all. I might even throw in a bit of background culture and history, who knows…time for a wine break to take the edge off the jetlag.
Hasta pronto!
Last edited by petesmith on Thu Dec 14, 2023 7:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Cuba Preview
Some good ones already, Pete, especially that Caribbean Banner, whose undersides are like some sort of professional artwork.
Keep 'em coming!![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
Keep 'em coming!
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
Re: Cuba Preview
For our first weekend in Cuba we had booked onto a two day “cities and mountains” tour which would take us from the north coast down to the south of the island and back. Our bus picked us up early Saturday morning and we were taken to our transfer point in Varadero before heading off on a very interesting and eye-opening adventure. Our tour guide was brilliant, and we learned a great deal about the history, economy and culture of the island. We visited two very different cities, Cienfuegos and Trinidad, where we had time to stroll around and mix with the locals. It was quite sobering sipping mojitos in a bar in Trinidad right on the square where the slaves used to be brought in for sale back in the day. We also visited Che Guevara’s memorial and mausoleum, had an overnight stay in a mountain hotel, and were driven up into the hills in an ex-Russian Army lorry along steep and winding dirt tracks for a 6km hike to a waterfall, through woodlands, coffee and banana plantations, followed by lunch at a remote restaurant. The whole experience was amazing and gave us an insight into some of the real Cuba. The poverty, economic difficulties, food rationing and shortages of basics such as medicines, clothes and cosmetics were very evident, and yet the people seemed so friendly and happy, keen to sing and dance and greet you with a smile and a high five. Often the friendship was clearly aimed at personal gain – begging was commonplace in the cities, and sometimes in the countryside also. The Cubans have very little. Cars are highly prized (and about ten times as expensive as houses), usually old, and often breaking down, as evidenced by the sheer number of cars we saw with bonnets up and drivers tinkering underneath. Horse and cart is the mode of transport for many of the locals, along with push-bikes. This made for a rather alarming journey back to our hotel on Sunday evening in the dark, as none of the cyclists or carts had lights on. Our coach driver did a great job of avoiding manslaughter, but it did make for a slow journey time!
Butterflies were few and far between in the cities, and even up in the mountains we saw very little as the weather was overcast. The only sightings of interest were of a few Many-banded Daggerwings and a couple of Yellows taking salts from the ground.
Many-banded Daggerwing – Marpesia chiron
Mimosa Yellow – Pyresitia nise
Boisduval’s Yellow – Eurema boisduvaliana
It was good to be back at our main base again on Monday morning after what had been an excellent but rather tiring two days of touring, and for the rest of the week we settled into a nice routine. Up early for breakfast and then out for a three-hour stroll (i.e. butterflying!), then back for lunch, followed by a couple of cocktails or a swim, then a mid-afternoon siesta, a late afternoon stroll down to the beach to check out the fish and crabs in the rock pools and coral, then dinner and a few glasses of wine. Very relaxing!
As tourists we were not totally immune to the shortages affecting Cuba, and one evening it became clear that there was a complete lack of red wine at the hotel – those who know me well will be able to imagine the panic that this induced! I was forced to switch to white wine and rum on at least two evenings. Outrageous!
But to get back to business, I promised you some small butterflies, and Cuba certainly has plenty of those to offer. I am a self-confessed Hairstreak addict, and also extremely fond of Blues and Coppers. I can’t offer you any Coppers, but I can tell you that there were plenty of Blues and Hairstreaks about. Most of them were tiny, hyperactive, and an absolute bugger to get close to for photography, but please enjoy the following selection – I certainly enjoyed finding, photographing and identifying them!
First up, the Miami Blue, which was frequently encountered in our local grasslands and scrublands.
Miami Blue – Cyclargus thomasi noeli
One species that I had really wanted to see was the Nickerbean Blue – I thought that we had missed out on this one, so I was delighted when going through photographs this morning to find one that I had overlooked out in the field – it’s a beauty!
Nickerbean Blue – Cyclargus ammon
Cassius Blues and Ceraunus Blues were also around in smaller numbers.
Cassius Blue – Leptotes cassius theonus
Ceraunus Blue – Hemiargus ceraunus filenus
Encounters with foreign Hairstreaks have made for some of my favourite life-experiences over the years, and I was very happy indeed to add a few more to my life-list in Cuba. I have already posted one of my all-time favourites in the preview – the Fulvous Hairstreak. There were none of these when we first arrived, then they emerged en masse one morning and we had more than two hundred feeding avidly on one small patch of nectar about ten metres long, an incredible sight! Three days later they had all but disappeared again. This is a small butterfly, about half the size of a White-letter Hairstreak. In fact, all of the Hairstreaks out here were small, as were the Blues.
Fulvous Hairstreak – Electrostrymon angelia angelia
Gray Ministreak – Ministrymon azia
Limenia Scrub Hairstreak – Strymon limenia
Mallow Scrub Hairstreak – Strymon istapa cybira
Martial Scrub Hairstreak – Strymon martialis
More to follow – I’ve got some ID work to do now on a load of Skippers and Whites – back in a bit!
Butterflies were few and far between in the cities, and even up in the mountains we saw very little as the weather was overcast. The only sightings of interest were of a few Many-banded Daggerwings and a couple of Yellows taking salts from the ground.
Many-banded Daggerwing – Marpesia chiron
Mimosa Yellow – Pyresitia nise
Boisduval’s Yellow – Eurema boisduvaliana
It was good to be back at our main base again on Monday morning after what had been an excellent but rather tiring two days of touring, and for the rest of the week we settled into a nice routine. Up early for breakfast and then out for a three-hour stroll (i.e. butterflying!), then back for lunch, followed by a couple of cocktails or a swim, then a mid-afternoon siesta, a late afternoon stroll down to the beach to check out the fish and crabs in the rock pools and coral, then dinner and a few glasses of wine. Very relaxing!
As tourists we were not totally immune to the shortages affecting Cuba, and one evening it became clear that there was a complete lack of red wine at the hotel – those who know me well will be able to imagine the panic that this induced! I was forced to switch to white wine and rum on at least two evenings. Outrageous!
But to get back to business, I promised you some small butterflies, and Cuba certainly has plenty of those to offer. I am a self-confessed Hairstreak addict, and also extremely fond of Blues and Coppers. I can’t offer you any Coppers, but I can tell you that there were plenty of Blues and Hairstreaks about. Most of them were tiny, hyperactive, and an absolute bugger to get close to for photography, but please enjoy the following selection – I certainly enjoyed finding, photographing and identifying them!
First up, the Miami Blue, which was frequently encountered in our local grasslands and scrublands.
Miami Blue – Cyclargus thomasi noeli
One species that I had really wanted to see was the Nickerbean Blue – I thought that we had missed out on this one, so I was delighted when going through photographs this morning to find one that I had overlooked out in the field – it’s a beauty!
Nickerbean Blue – Cyclargus ammon
Cassius Blues and Ceraunus Blues were also around in smaller numbers.
Cassius Blue – Leptotes cassius theonus
Ceraunus Blue – Hemiargus ceraunus filenus
Encounters with foreign Hairstreaks have made for some of my favourite life-experiences over the years, and I was very happy indeed to add a few more to my life-list in Cuba. I have already posted one of my all-time favourites in the preview – the Fulvous Hairstreak. There were none of these when we first arrived, then they emerged en masse one morning and we had more than two hundred feeding avidly on one small patch of nectar about ten metres long, an incredible sight! Three days later they had all but disappeared again. This is a small butterfly, about half the size of a White-letter Hairstreak. In fact, all of the Hairstreaks out here were small, as were the Blues.
Fulvous Hairstreak – Electrostrymon angelia angelia
Gray Ministreak – Ministrymon azia
Limenia Scrub Hairstreak – Strymon limenia
Mallow Scrub Hairstreak – Strymon istapa cybira
Martial Scrub Hairstreak – Strymon martialis
More to follow – I’ve got some ID work to do now on a load of Skippers and Whites – back in a bit!
Last edited by petesmith on Thu Dec 14, 2023 7:43 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Cuba Preview
OK. It’s Skipper-time folks. For information on and identification of Cuban butterflies, I have been referring heavily to the excellent Mariposas de Cuba - Guia de Campo, edited by Mancini, Aguila and Raola. This is a multi-authored work (including contribution from the UK’s Tim Norriss), illustrated with both museum specimens and photographs of live butterflies, plus detailed descriptions and distribution maps, and can be downloaded in pdf format as a free resource at mariposas_de_cuba_field_guide_mancina_et_al_2020.pdf (butterfliesofcuba.com)
I have found it invaluable.
Skippers in this part of the world come in all shapes and sizes, from tiny golden ones half the size of our own Lulworth Skipper, to huge great long-tailed beasts that whizz around at great speed and are almost inconceivable from a European Skipper perspective. Below is a selection of those that I am reasonably confident of having identified, but I am happy to receive corrections from any more experienced Latin-American Hesperiidologists!
The first one that we encountered was an old friend from our Costa Rica travels – the Tropical Checkered Skipper. Tropical Chequered Skipper – Burnsius oileus - male above, female below
Everything else was new to us, although the Cuban Dorantes Longtail is a subspecies of another old friend from Costa Rica.
One of my favourites was the tiny Baracoa Skipper which was common along the coast by our hotel.
Baracoa Skipper – Polytes baracoa baracoa
The Three-spotted Skipper also turned up frequently, another diminutive butterfly.
Three-spotted Skipper – Cymaenes tripunctus tripunctus
Then things get bigger. The Caribbean Skipper is a chunky, pugnacious butterfly, and quite bright on the wing.
Caribbean Skipper – Pyrrhocalles antiqua orientis
The Potrillo Skipper tended to stick to very shady areas, where it was reluctant to pose for the camera.
Potrillo Skipper – Autochton potrillo potrillo
And to finish off this part, three large stunners – fast and furious insects, a joy to behold and a nightmare to photograph!
Cuban Dorantes Longtail – Cecropterus dorantes santiago
Mesogramma Skipper – Atalopedes mesogramma mesogramma
Long-tailed Skipper – Urbanus proteus domingo
Our plan was to spend a day in Havana during the second week of our holiday, but the Fates had other ideas. Since arriving at our hotel, we had noticed that every time we visited the buffet for breakfast or one of the three a-la-carte restaurants we were greeted by a cacophony of coughs. It seemed that half of the hotel guests and at least a third of the staff had some sort of dire viral thing going on and sure enough by the end of the first week I had got a sore throat and was starting to cough also. Two nights of the horrors followed; shivers, shaking, all-over body aches, nausea, ah the joy! Very similar symptoms to my previous experience of Covid; it seems that the hotel was Covid central, although no-one was making any big deal about it. I wasn’t too bad during the day, dosed up on paracetamol, so the butterflying continued. Vicki was about two days behind me on the viral journey, so all in all our final week wasn’t quite what we had envisaged, but we got though it and were fully recovered in time for our return home. Missing out on a day in Havana did give us more time to add to our Lepidopterous journal, and we found a few more exciting species that we might have otherwise missed had we stuck to our planned schedule.
I have some Pierids, large and small, left to sort through and identify, plus a few special moments to finish off with, including a sighting of Cuba’s largest butterfly. I will share the rest soon - hasta la vista!
I have found it invaluable.
Skippers in this part of the world come in all shapes and sizes, from tiny golden ones half the size of our own Lulworth Skipper, to huge great long-tailed beasts that whizz around at great speed and are almost inconceivable from a European Skipper perspective. Below is a selection of those that I am reasonably confident of having identified, but I am happy to receive corrections from any more experienced Latin-American Hesperiidologists!
The first one that we encountered was an old friend from our Costa Rica travels – the Tropical Checkered Skipper. Tropical Chequered Skipper – Burnsius oileus - male above, female below
Everything else was new to us, although the Cuban Dorantes Longtail is a subspecies of another old friend from Costa Rica.
One of my favourites was the tiny Baracoa Skipper which was common along the coast by our hotel.
Baracoa Skipper – Polytes baracoa baracoa
The Three-spotted Skipper also turned up frequently, another diminutive butterfly.
Three-spotted Skipper – Cymaenes tripunctus tripunctus
Then things get bigger. The Caribbean Skipper is a chunky, pugnacious butterfly, and quite bright on the wing.
Caribbean Skipper – Pyrrhocalles antiqua orientis
The Potrillo Skipper tended to stick to very shady areas, where it was reluctant to pose for the camera.
Potrillo Skipper – Autochton potrillo potrillo
And to finish off this part, three large stunners – fast and furious insects, a joy to behold and a nightmare to photograph!
Cuban Dorantes Longtail – Cecropterus dorantes santiago
Mesogramma Skipper – Atalopedes mesogramma mesogramma
Long-tailed Skipper – Urbanus proteus domingo
Our plan was to spend a day in Havana during the second week of our holiday, but the Fates had other ideas. Since arriving at our hotel, we had noticed that every time we visited the buffet for breakfast or one of the three a-la-carte restaurants we were greeted by a cacophony of coughs. It seemed that half of the hotel guests and at least a third of the staff had some sort of dire viral thing going on and sure enough by the end of the first week I had got a sore throat and was starting to cough also. Two nights of the horrors followed; shivers, shaking, all-over body aches, nausea, ah the joy! Very similar symptoms to my previous experience of Covid; it seems that the hotel was Covid central, although no-one was making any big deal about it. I wasn’t too bad during the day, dosed up on paracetamol, so the butterflying continued. Vicki was about two days behind me on the viral journey, so all in all our final week wasn’t quite what we had envisaged, but we got though it and were fully recovered in time for our return home. Missing out on a day in Havana did give us more time to add to our Lepidopterous journal, and we found a few more exciting species that we might have otherwise missed had we stuck to our planned schedule.
I have some Pierids, large and small, left to sort through and identify, plus a few special moments to finish off with, including a sighting of Cuba’s largest butterfly. I will share the rest soon - hasta la vista!
Re: Cuba Preview
Sorry to hear of the infection outbreak, Pete. Good that it didn't ruin or curtail your butterflying though.
The latest ones are spectacular, with the Fulvous Hairstreak and the Long Tailed Skipper standing out.
Looking forward to your Pierids, et al...
The latest ones are spectacular, with the Fulvous Hairstreak and the Long Tailed Skipper standing out.
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
Looking forward to your Pierids, et al...
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Re: Cuba Preview
Hi
Always a pleasure to read you reviews Pete![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Always a pleasure to read you reviews Pete
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Re: Cuba Preview
What a fantastic adventure you've been on Pete
you've certainly cheered me up no end, the Butterflies made my covid virus nearly disappear
Goldie![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Goldie
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Re: Cuba Preview
John, Goldie, delighted that you are enjoying my latest report.
Here goes with the grand finale...hope it doesn't disappoint!
Right then. I have now finished going through my remaining photographs and will complete this report with a selection of Pierids, a rather brief exhibit of Swallowtails, and finally a couple of personal unexpected highlights of a Nymphalid nature.
Pierids eh? Who would rate them amongst their favourite butterflies in the UK? Large, Small and Green-veined Whites? OK, the Orange-tip is a rather lovely insect, and the Wood White has a certain appeal, as does the Brimstone, but overall, I feel that the Whites are pretty much undervalued and under-rated. I was once mildly mocked in a very friendly manner by a fellow UKB veteran for travelling across the Atlantic to see a “Cabbage White” on the Canary Islands – one of my favourite European species, the Canary Island’s Large White! I stand by my love of Pierids and hope that this selection of Cuban species may convert a few people to the delights of this group of Lepidopterous beauties.
Here we go then, my personal selection for your delectation…
Firstly, an old friend from Costa Rica, the Barred Yellow, a small but lovely insect, very common in the grassy scrublands around our home base.
Barred Yellow – Eurema daira palmira
There were many large “Sulphur” butterflies flying everywhere we went, but they are relentless in flight and hardly ever stop. I only managed to photograph one – the Cloudless Sulphur.
Cloudless Sulphur – Poebis sennae sennae
At the smallest end of the spectrum was a true delight, my first sighting of the Dainty Sulphur. The size of a common blue, but gorgeous in markings and colouring.
Dainty Sulphur - Nathalis iole
Here are three “yellows” for your enjoyment.
Dina Yellow – Pyrisitia dina dina
Little Yellow – Pyrisitia lisa euterpe
Mimosa Yellow – Pyrisitia nise nise
A larger white caught my eye along the beach one evening – it turned out to be a Great Southern White, and a second one appeared shortly afterwards. Lovely beasts!
Great Southern White – Ascia monuste eubotea
But my favourite new Pierid of the holiday was undoubtedly the Southern Dogface. I had hoped to see this species, but it didn’t appear until our last couple of days. Kind of reminiscent of a Clouded Yellow but with a slower and less direct flight – imagine a Clouded Yellow after several mojitos and you get the gist of its flight pattern, somewhat erratic and uncertain!
Southern Dogface - Zerene cesonia cesonia
We now must discuss Swallowtails…
Cuba has plenty of them, but we only saw three species, and they were so difficult to photograph, being constantly on manoeuvres and even at nectar their wings go ten to the dozen. I managed a few poor pictures of two of them, both common but nigh impossible to approach. Here they are:
Polydamas Swallowtail – Battus polydamus cubensis
Lime Swallowtail – Papilio demoleus
A mid-week encounter with the Mexican Fritillary was all too brief.
Mexican Fritillary - Euptoieta hegesia hegesia
And to finish, two of our most exciting encounters of the entire trip. Firstly, a butterfly that resembled the “Sisters” of Costa Rica but turned out to be the Silver Emperor. An exotic, hyperactive nectarer with similarities to our own Imperial Majesty in that the male has a purple/blue iridescence only visible at certain angles. The female is larger but whiter in markings and is devoid of the sheen. These really caught our attention - cracking beasts!
Silver Emperor – Doxocopa laure druryi - males
Silver Emperor – Doxocopa laure druryi - females
And finally, Cuba’s largest butterfly. We had seen one of these whilst walking back along the road to our hotel late one afternoon. It was a good candidate for the biggest butterfly I have ever seen, but disappeared right up into the canopy before I had chance to even guess what it might be. Fortunately, Vicki spotted another one towards the end of our holiday. It had just roosted right up in a tree, but I was able to get a couple of record shots at full zoom. This was the Orion Cecropian, Cuba’s largest butterfly with a wingspan approaching 6 inches. What a beast!
Orion Cecropian – Historis odius odius
That’s me about done! Despite the grim local weather I am still basking in the afterglow of an amazing fortnight in Cuba. It way exceeded my expectations in terms of butterfly action. I sincerely hope that you have enjoyed this report. It has, as always, been a pleasure putting it together and reliving the most amazing of Lepidopterous experiences!
Here’s to 2024…
Here goes with the grand finale...hope it doesn't disappoint!
Right then. I have now finished going through my remaining photographs and will complete this report with a selection of Pierids, a rather brief exhibit of Swallowtails, and finally a couple of personal unexpected highlights of a Nymphalid nature.
Pierids eh? Who would rate them amongst their favourite butterflies in the UK? Large, Small and Green-veined Whites? OK, the Orange-tip is a rather lovely insect, and the Wood White has a certain appeal, as does the Brimstone, but overall, I feel that the Whites are pretty much undervalued and under-rated. I was once mildly mocked in a very friendly manner by a fellow UKB veteran for travelling across the Atlantic to see a “Cabbage White” on the Canary Islands – one of my favourite European species, the Canary Island’s Large White! I stand by my love of Pierids and hope that this selection of Cuban species may convert a few people to the delights of this group of Lepidopterous beauties.
Here we go then, my personal selection for your delectation…
Firstly, an old friend from Costa Rica, the Barred Yellow, a small but lovely insect, very common in the grassy scrublands around our home base.
Barred Yellow – Eurema daira palmira
There were many large “Sulphur” butterflies flying everywhere we went, but they are relentless in flight and hardly ever stop. I only managed to photograph one – the Cloudless Sulphur.
Cloudless Sulphur – Poebis sennae sennae
At the smallest end of the spectrum was a true delight, my first sighting of the Dainty Sulphur. The size of a common blue, but gorgeous in markings and colouring.
Dainty Sulphur - Nathalis iole
Here are three “yellows” for your enjoyment.
Dina Yellow – Pyrisitia dina dina
Little Yellow – Pyrisitia lisa euterpe
Mimosa Yellow – Pyrisitia nise nise
A larger white caught my eye along the beach one evening – it turned out to be a Great Southern White, and a second one appeared shortly afterwards. Lovely beasts!
Great Southern White – Ascia monuste eubotea
But my favourite new Pierid of the holiday was undoubtedly the Southern Dogface. I had hoped to see this species, but it didn’t appear until our last couple of days. Kind of reminiscent of a Clouded Yellow but with a slower and less direct flight – imagine a Clouded Yellow after several mojitos and you get the gist of its flight pattern, somewhat erratic and uncertain!
Southern Dogface - Zerene cesonia cesonia
We now must discuss Swallowtails…
Cuba has plenty of them, but we only saw three species, and they were so difficult to photograph, being constantly on manoeuvres and even at nectar their wings go ten to the dozen. I managed a few poor pictures of two of them, both common but nigh impossible to approach. Here they are:
Polydamas Swallowtail – Battus polydamus cubensis
Lime Swallowtail – Papilio demoleus
A mid-week encounter with the Mexican Fritillary was all too brief.
Mexican Fritillary - Euptoieta hegesia hegesia
And to finish, two of our most exciting encounters of the entire trip. Firstly, a butterfly that resembled the “Sisters” of Costa Rica but turned out to be the Silver Emperor. An exotic, hyperactive nectarer with similarities to our own Imperial Majesty in that the male has a purple/blue iridescence only visible at certain angles. The female is larger but whiter in markings and is devoid of the sheen. These really caught our attention - cracking beasts!
Silver Emperor – Doxocopa laure druryi - males
Silver Emperor – Doxocopa laure druryi - females
And finally, Cuba’s largest butterfly. We had seen one of these whilst walking back along the road to our hotel late one afternoon. It was a good candidate for the biggest butterfly I have ever seen, but disappeared right up into the canopy before I had chance to even guess what it might be. Fortunately, Vicki spotted another one towards the end of our holiday. It had just roosted right up in a tree, but I was able to get a couple of record shots at full zoom. This was the Orion Cecropian, Cuba’s largest butterfly with a wingspan approaching 6 inches. What a beast!
Orion Cecropian – Historis odius odius
That’s me about done! Despite the grim local weather I am still basking in the afterglow of an amazing fortnight in Cuba. It way exceeded my expectations in terms of butterfly action. I sincerely hope that you have enjoyed this report. It has, as always, been a pleasure putting it together and reliving the most amazing of Lepidopterous experiences!
Here’s to 2024…
Last edited by petesmith on Thu Dec 14, 2023 7:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Padfield
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Re: Cuba Preview
Thank you for these wonderful pictures and butterflies, Pete!
I was very surprised to see Papilio demoleus in your catalogue, as I think of this as an Old World butterfly. So I asked ChatGPT how the species ended up in Cuba and it expressed equal surprise ! Wikipedia knew about its presence in the Americas, though it expressed ignorance as to how the butterfly got there. It added that this is perhaps the most widely distributed butterfly in the world, a distinction I had always credited to the painted lady. Fascinating stuff !
Guy
I was very surprised to see Papilio demoleus in your catalogue, as I think of this as an Old World butterfly. So I asked ChatGPT how the species ended up in Cuba and it expressed equal surprise ! Wikipedia knew about its presence in the Americas, though it expressed ignorance as to how the butterfly got there. It added that this is perhaps the most widely distributed butterfly in the world, a distinction I had always credited to the painted lady. Fascinating stuff !
Guy
Guy's Butterflies: https://www.guypadfield.com
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
Re: Cuba Preview
https://watermark.silverchair.com/ae50- ... qduh9Jng7APadfield wrote: ↑Sun Dec 10, 2023 8:34 pm Thank you for these wonderful pictures and butterflies, Pete!
I was very surprised to see Papilio demoleus in your catalogue, as I think of this as an Old World butterfly. So I asked ChatGPT how the species ended up in Cuba and it expressed equal surprise ! Wikipedia knew about its presence in the Americas, though it expressed ignorance as to how the butterfly got there. It added that this is perhaps the most widely distributed butterfly in the world, a distinction I had always credited to the painted lady. Fascinating stuff !
Guy
Looks like from this paper it was an accidental introduction around the turn of the century in the West Indies(I've only skimmed a few paragraphs).
Some addictions are good for the soul!
- Padfield
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Re: Cuba Preview
Thanks Buggy. I couldn't follow your link, but trying to find the article independently I did come across this:
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... _in_Europe
It is primarily concerned with a sighting in Portugal, but it also refers to accidental introduction to the West Indies in 2004. Like a lot of the butterflies Pete sees on his trips, this is a species I'm very familiar with from butterfly houses but have never seen in the wild. It's good to learn more about it.
Guy
EDIT - and the book/pdf that Pete recommends discusses it briefly as well. It was first seen in Cuba in 2007
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... _in_Europe
It is primarily concerned with a sighting in Portugal, but it also refers to accidental introduction to the West Indies in 2004. Like a lot of the butterflies Pete sees on his trips, this is a species I'm very familiar with from butterfly houses but have never seen in the wild. It's good to learn more about it.
Guy
EDIT - and the book/pdf that Pete recommends discusses it briefly as well. It was first seen in Cuba in 2007
Guy's Butterflies: https://www.guypadfield.com
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
Re: Cuba Preview
My pleasure Guy!Padfield wrote: ↑Sun Dec 10, 2023 8:34 pm Thank you for these wonderful pictures and butterflies, Pete!
I was very surprised to see Papilio demoleus in your catalogue, as I think of this as an Old World butterfly. So I asked ChatGPT how the species ended up in Cuba and it expressed equal surprise ! Wikipedia knew about its presence in the Americas, though it expressed ignorance as to how the butterfly got there. It added that this is perhaps the most widely distributed butterfly in the world, a distinction I had always credited to the painted lady. Fascinating stuff !
Guy
I was also surprised to see demoleus in Cuba! I wasn't expecting it. And yet as you point out in your later post, it has been reported recently from Portugal, and I was aware of it gaining a foothold in Turkey and Cyprus in recent years - Greece must surely be next...
Looking at the distribution maps of P.demoleus and V.cardui on iNaturalist, I think the Lime Swallowtail still has a way to go to seriously challenge the Painted Lady as the most widely distributed butterfly on the planet, though
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
Re: Cuba Preview
I'm not surprised you're basking in that afterglow, Pete. A wonderful, exotic selection of butterflies you've presented.
I've enjoyed seeing them immensely.
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
Re: Cuba Preview
Thanks David - I am very pleased that you have enjoyed them! I would highly recommend a trip out there if you get a chance...
Re: Cuba Preview
Brilliant stuff as always Pete. A fair few I recognise from Florida
Indeed after the initial sighting in 2021 breeding has now been confirmed in Cyprus.
Re: Cuba Preview
Cheers Steve - yes, I would imagine with its close geographical proximity that there is a fair bit of commonality between Florida and Cuba when it comes to butterflies. It is certainly a fascinating part of the world to explore for any Lepidopterist - very rewarding!
Re: Cuba Preview
Love shots that uplift the spirits. Certainly some of these are familiar to me from the Florida Everglades. Sounds like a great trip.