St. Lucia butterfly ID's

[teejay]

These photos were taken in the garden of the hotel during a recent two week holiday in St. Lucia. The first two I'm confident are of the Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanilla). Nos. 3 and 4 I think are of the Common Long-tailed Skipper (Urbanus proteus). No. 5 is another skipper which I have been unable to ID and the last one I think are a pair of Southern Whites or possibly Florida Whites. Any confirmation or help would be appreciated.

[Padfield]

Hi teejay.

I think you're right about the Gulf fritillary and the first long-tailed skipper. I'm not convinced by the second long-tailed skipper! I'll have to come back to you on that one!

The orange skipper is Wallengrenia ophites.

The wing shape for the whites rules out Florida white and I suggest they are great southern whites, Ascia monuste.

What wonderful butterflies to have been watching!

Guy

[Padfield]

Picture number 4 shows Nyctelius nyctelius. There's a selection of photos of live specimens here:

http://butterfliesofamerica.com/nycteli ... _live1.htm

I got the ID from Riley's Butterflies of the West Indies, though. It's an old book, and out of date in lots of ways, but still very useful.

Guy

[NickMorgan]

I would agree with all of Guy's IDs, but for the skipper in picture 4, what about Polygonus leo? It is difficult to tell from the angle, but the markings on the forewing seem to be a good match.
Where abouts in St Lucia were you? We were there last year and had a great time, but I didn't get out and about as much as I would have liked to look for butterflies!

[Padfield]

An old trick to help you decide. I've stretched the image, to turn the butterfly side on. This makes it easier to compare with web (or book) pictures:



(if the wings aren't flat, of course, this introduces new distortions)

Guy

[teejay]

Hi Guy
Thanks for your time on this. What a wonderful trick to "turn" the butterfly, not come across that before. It shows that the banding and black spot correspond well with the Violet-banded Skipper Nyctelius.
On the orange skipper. Do you think the elongated yellow mark on the hind wing is just an aberration ?? It doesn't seem to be present on any of the photos of the Wallengrenia species on the Species of America web site.
Thanks once again.

Hi Nick
I was staying at Bel Jou Hotel which is high up overlooking Castries at the north end of the island. I did not manage to look elsewhere only in the hotel garden.

Thank you both
Richard

[NickMorgan]

An old trick to help you decide. I've stretched the image, to turn the butterfly side on. This makes it easier to compare with web (or book) pictures:



(if the wings aren't flat, of course, this introduces new distortions)

Guy

What a clever idea. I wouldn't have thought of doing that! Now at home I have had a chance to look through David Spencer Smith's Butterflies of the West Indies (a fiftieth birthday present to myself!). Difficult to say for sure from the markings, particularly with the way the light is hitting the wing, but then the obvious difference is size and in comparison with the Ixora flower, you have to be right Guy! I should never have doubted you!!

Richard,
We were up at Smugglers' Cove, not far north of Castries. Although a lot of butterflies flew through the grounds of the resort they rarely landed. It was so frustrating not managing to get pictures of so many species. On the three occasions we managed to explore the island outside the resort we saw a lot more butterflies roosting and nectaring. I suspect they fogged the resort to keep mosquito and cockroach numbers down and this was off-putting for the butterflies. I certainly want to return to the Caribbean. Such an amazing variety and number of butterflies. I am truly hooked now and very interested in the range of species for each island.

[Padfield]

It's a little trick I've often used to bring flattened patterns into clearer perspective - particularly useful where it is important to judge angles between spots, as when separating osiris and semiargus from funny perspectives.

You should always doubt me, Nick! I'm way out of my comfort zone with Antillean Hesperiidae!!

I assumed that yellow line on the hindwing was not a natural marking. It doesn't appear in pictures of any similar species. I skimmed through the Butterflies of Mexico too, to see if anything showed up there (Smith's Butterflies of the West Indies is out of my price bracket for the time being!!) and there's nothing.

All very interesting!

Guy

[teejay]

Difficult to see what else the yellow streak could be and it looks as though there is a faint hint of perhaps a similar mark on the other hind wing, or is it my imagination.
Richard