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We spent 18 days in Huatulco last month, and I took my camera along in the hope of finding some butterflies. I got 3 days of butterflying, plus there were a couple of other occasions where I got to spend maybe two hours at a time looking around close to where we were staying, just seeing what I could find along the roadsides etc.
It was the peak of the dry season, so whilst I did see quite a few butterflies it was only a tiny fraction of what would have been around at some other times of the year; the Mexican state of Oaxaca has something like 800 species and apparently a lot of them are very plentiful during the wetter seasons. Despite this I did get shots of some iconic species, some of which I'd wanted to see since I was a young lad looking at my butterfly books.

I'll start with the Nymphalidae, which were the most numerous....



This is the Red Postman (Heliconius erato), which was common especially in areas with a bit of shade. They were quite frustrating to photograph, as typically they'd flutter slowly around just above the ground, looking as if they would settle at any moment but not quite doing so. When they did land they rarely let me get close enough for me to get photos, and usually in such deep shade that a camera capable of taking sharp, non-grainy photos at ISO 1000000 would have been handy. However, they were very attracted to these orange flowers, which helped a lot. These photos were taken in the Huatulco National Park, but the butterfly could show up almost anywhere, including in the garden of the Condos where we were staying (which was also frequented by hummingbirds).



This is the Zebra Heliconian (Heliconius charithonia), photographed on the same clump of flowers as the Red Postman shots. I generally saw those two species in the same places, sometimes in quite large numbers. This one is quite a bit larger than H. erato, which was smaller than I'd expected.



Julia Heliconian (Dryas julia), again photographed at the same flowers. This was also widespread, though it was much more likely to be seen in the sunshine than the previous two species. Whilst it might show up anywhere I didn't see as many of these.



Female Banded Orange Heliconian (Dryadula phaetusa). We had a beach day at Playa La Bocana, but I took my camera backpack along for a couple of hours of butterflying, and attempted to get into the nature reserve that joins onto the beach. That didn't work out too well, as I didn't want to get too close to the river in case it was home to any American Crocodiles, and once I reached the forest I couldn't find any path into the trees. Just before the forest was a waist-high tangle of vines - I didn't fancy fighting through that, and besides there would have been no way to get close to any perched butterfly without disturbing it. So I had to hover around the fringe hoping some butterflies would come within reach; this Heliconian was one of the few that did. The following day I saw the more brightly-coloured male near the pool at our Condo, but wasn't able to get shots of him.



White Morpho (Morpho polyphemus). These things are huge! The first one I saw was soaring around the canopy and it looked quite majestic, though too far away to try to photograph, but the next one was fluttering low down along the track and was hardly any better at flying than I was. I mostly saw them at the National Park - not in great numbers - but the one shown here was in the La Copalita Eco-Archaelogical Park.



Gray Cracker (Hamadryas februa), at La Copalita. This is also quite a large species; they fly rapidly and eratically - almost manically - then land on tree trunks with the wings spread.



Orange Banner (Temenis laothoe). I only saw one of these, at La Copalita. It stayed in the shade, but would occasionally open its wings to show flashes of the orange upperside.



I think this is the Guatemalan Leafwing (Anaea forreri); it doesn't look exactly like the photos I've seen of that species but it looks the closest. I saw a couple of these, one at the side of the road close to where I was staying and the other was at La Copalita (which is the one pictured here).


Band-celled Sister (Adelpha fessonia). I *think* I photographed 3 different species of Sister in the Huatulco National Park. None of them was easy to get; they were all wary and reluctant to let me get close.


Malachite (Siproeta stelenes). This is quite a large butterfly, and once settled I found it relatively easy to approach for photos, which made a nice change compared to a lot of the Nymphalids. I only saw 3 or 4 of these, all in the National Park.

Next up : Riodinidae. Mexico has loads of species, which was exciting for me because Australia only has one, and I wasn't able to find it on my one and only trip to the Iron Range in November 2013.



This lovely little thing is the White-tipped Pixie (Melanis acroleuca), which I found just about every time I went out looking for butterflies. Most of the time just the odd one or two would show up; buzzing slowly and clumsily around before landing on the underside of a leaf, but on one occasion I was just walking along a roadside when I decided to explore a little way into the trees; there were dozens of these butterflies in a small area with just about every bush concealing a few under its leaves.


This tiny butterfly is one of the many Scintillants (Calephelis spp.). I tentatively identified it as C. perditalis, but I must emphasize the word "tentatively" because according to the Swift Guide to Butterflies of Mexico and Central America the taxonomy of these butterflies is a mess and needs a lot of work. Having said that, a lot of my IDs for Mexican Butterflies are tentative to say the least...
This particular specimen was on the track shortly after I entered the National Park, though I found what appeared to be the same species elsewhere including along roadsides.


Bell-banded Theope (Theope publius). My stepson and I went to explore a nearby "secret beach", which was close to where we were staying but hardly anyone went there, except for a lot of vultures. There are vultures everywhere in that part of the world! I spotted this butterfly when we were walking up the steep path back to the road; it flew around briefly before settling under a leaf.


This is a Carousing Jewelmark (Anteros carausios), one of the species I had most wanted to find. I spotted it in the National Park, right where I'd just seen an amazing Sky-Blue Greatstreak, which I was hoping would return. This jewelmark appeared in the form of a small, dark object which flew straight into a clump of vines, making a clumsy moth-like crash landing. I had no idea what it actually was - it hadn't flown like a butterfly - but I got quite excited when I got a closer look at it. Unfortunately it stayed almost entirely in the shade, or on the light/shade border, which masked its incredible colours, and it constantly walked around the vines getting itself behind leaves etc, so getting even a half-decent shot was difficult. I think it was a female looking to lay eggs on the vine. I returned to that spot as often as I could, but never saw another Jewelmark there or anywhere else.



Male and female Mexican Grayler (Hypophylla zeurippa). I only saw this species at La Copalita Eco-Archaeological Park, and then only early in the morning. As with so many Mexican butterflies they like to hide underneath leaves, which can make them difficult to photograph, especially if the leaf is only a couple of inches above the ground, which sometimes happens.



Male and female Variable Lenmark (Synargis mycone). This is another species I only saw at La Copalita; they were feeding from flowers close to one of the archaeological exhibits, a temple which looked as if it had had a suspiciously large amount of modern rebuilding (unless the old indigenous population had a fascination for large rocks set in concrete).


This butterfly was photographed at the edge of a roundabout; it's perched on the whitewashed kerb. I saw similar butterflies in a number of places, and I've gone for Great Tanmark (Emesis mandana) as the ID for all of them, even though the butterliies didn't look big enough to be the "Great" anything.

Lycaenidae - the Lycaenids were very disappointing. That part of Mexico is home to a large number of species, many of them very colourful, but I suspect this is where being at the peak of the dry season really had the biggest effect. Apart from one really spectacular butterfly I mostly saw very small and unobtrusive beasties, though I guess finding 4 different species of hairstreaks along edge of an unbuilt lot is nothing to be sniffed at.


Sky-blue Greatstreak (Pseudolycaena damo). This had to be seen to be believed. I found it quite soon after starting my first real day of butterflying, in the Huatulco National Park; the path reached a right-angle corner which created a small sunspot. I saw this butterfly perched in amongst the vines, just above head height, and by pushing my camera between the vines I was able to get one (not very good) photo. The butterfly then moved to a more open perch, but much higher up, before disappearing. I pottered around the area for a while, before returning to the corner where I saw the butterfly perched out in the open just below waist high. I took a LOT of photos, though they're essentially all the same because the butterfly didn't shift except to move its hind wings up and down in that typical Lycanenid manner. I chose this particular shot because it does show a tiny part of the upperside colour. When this butterfly is in flight in the sunshine this colour is dazzling! I'd seen photos of this species before going to Mexico, and was really hoping I'd get to see it, so to find it so early on was very exciting. As it turns out I was very lucky indeed - I looked the species up on iNaturalist and it looks as if February is the month with the least number of records of this butterfly.


Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak (Strymon rufofusca). These butterflies were common at the roadside; I saw them on grass verges in the residential areas and at the edges of undeveloped blocks of land. They were very small and a bit hyperactive in the hot sunshine. I took a lot of photos but most of them are pretty bad; this just seems to be one of those butterflies that always looks slightly out of focus. In flight they just looked like a any drab little worn Lycaenid, it was only when I got to see them through the camera that I saw they were Hairstreaks.


Towards the end of my holiday the Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreaks were being joined at the roadside by the Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak (Strymon istapa). These were similarly small and unobtrusive, but stood out owing to their spots.


Pearly-gray Hairstreak (Siderus tephraeus). Right at the start of the holiday I found 2 of these disputing some bushes at the roadside, just a few yards away from where I'd seen a load of the Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreaks. The Pearly-grays were a bit larger and definitely stayed higher off the ground, usually settling at head height. The other specimen was in much better condition, but I've posted this one because the damage to his hind wings reveals a little part of the upperside, which was a lovely light blue.


Cassius Blue (Leptotes cassius). This looks very similar to L. plinius which can be found in large numbers around Plumbago plants in Sydney during our autumn. I didn't see many cassius, but I did see one or two just about every time I went butterflying.


Ceraunus Blue (Hemiargus ceraunus). This was easily the most common Lycaenid, especially in dry areas. During the warmer parts of the day they were infuriatingly difficult to photograph as they'd just keep on flitting about, but in late afternoon they were more cooperative.


Cyna Blue (Zizula cyna). This was the smallest of the little Lycaenids to be seen along the roadsides etc - this one was photographed on the grass in the middle of a roundabout. It's very similar to the Z. hylax I've seen in Queensland.

I only saw 2 species of Papilionidae; there are many others but once again I'd have had much more luck at a different time of year.


I've got this down as being a Thoas Swallowtail (Heraclides thoas). When I posted it on Facebook at the time someone suggested it might be Heraclides rumiko instead, but I'm sticking with thoas because the spot pattern matches it better. It seems that H. rumiko was split from H. cresphontes, and I think the photo looks more like thoas than either. I could well be wrong
I saw 3 or 4 of these butterflies at La Copalita, one of which just sat on a leaf and let me get as close as I liked.


Pink-spotted Cattleheart (Parides photinus). I saw 2 of these in the Huatulco National Park; the first one was just flitting through a very dark mangrove area but the second one landed close to the track. Unfortunately I couldn't get very close to it, and the light situation was very difficult as it only settled on the border of the bright sunshine and the dark shade. I took a number of photos using various different camera settings but I still couldn't manage any better than this shot.

I saw quite a lot of large Pierids, but as usual they mostly just flew on by without thinking of stopping. Once or twice I saw either Yellow or White Angled-Sulphurs (Anteos maerula or A. clorinde); their wings are shaped like those of a Brimstone but the butterflies are huge. Unfortunately I only ever saw them flying strongly along the road, so I didn't get a chance to photograph them.


The West-Mexican Sulphur (Prestonia clarki) was common in the drier areas and was the best-behaved of the Pierids. Whilst it too was fond of flying it was happy to land on vegetation at the side of the road or path and to sit for long enough for me to take a few photos.


Lyside Sulphur (Kricogonia lyside) was a bit smaller than most of the Pierids I saw, and would occasionally settle underneath a leaf. They still weren't easy to approach but I got lucky a couple of times.


I saw a few of these Florida Whites (Appias drusilla), but I never saw one settle. I only photographed this one because it had been caught and killed by a mantis (which is just out of shot).


The Giant White (Ganyra josephina) looks a bit like a Large White on steroids. I saw one or two of these per day, and occasionally one would land. I had to approach slowly and quietly, but managed it a couple of times.


This was by far the smallest Pierid I saw; I think it's the dry-season form of Barred Yellow (Eurema daira).

And now the IDs become more tentative as we reach the Hesperiidae. Mexico has a huge number of Hesperids, many of them being quite spectacular although the really colourful ones weren't to be found at Huatulco in February. However I did see a lot of Long-Tailed skippers, of various species. They could even be seen at several beaches, skipping along above the beach and occasionally landing on rocks or driftwood. A lot of the time they were hard to approach, but every now and then I'd come across one that would just sit there while I filled my memory card with photos.


This was the first tailed skipper I saw, which I think is THE Long-Tailed Skipper (Urbanus proteus). I followed a little path into the undergrowth on an unbuilt block of land, but the path only led to a dead end after a few yards - I think some of the local kids used to sneak in there to smoke cigarettes. I just turned around and went back, and there at the side of the path sat this skipper.



Male and female Dark-spotted Polythrix (Polythrix asine). I saw quite a few males, defending territories along various tracks and paths. I only saw the one female, and that was a stroke of luck. Whilst walking through a very unproductive stretch of the National Park I accidentally disturbed a White-tipped Pixie; it buzzed around looking for a place to hide and tried to settle underneath a leaf about 3 feet off the ground but quickly changed its mind and flew off elsewhere. When I crouched down to look under that leaf I saw this skipper sitting there.



Brown Longtail (Urbanus procne). I saw this species in several locations, but in most cases I found them hard to approach. This guy, however, was busy defending his part of a track in the National Park from his near neighbour, and was much more bothered by his rival than by me sticking my camera in his face.


White-tipped Longtail (Urbanus chales), photographed in the Huatulco National Park.


This Potrillo Skipper (Cabares potrillo) was in the La Copalita Eco-Archaeological Park. In amongst all the brown skippers it was nice to find one with a lovely olive colour.


Death-mask Spurwing (Antigonus nearchus). I saw 3 or 4 of these bizarre-looking Hesperids, but they usually landed in awkward spots and/or wouldn't let me get close. This one was in the National Park.


This miniscule butterfly - one of the smallest I've ever photographed - is the Sandy Skipper (Zopyrion sandace). I only saw the one, who was zipping up and down a sandy track in the National Park, occasionally settling on low plants. It was hot and he was frisky, and he made me work very hard to get any photos at all of him. I stalked him 27 times before I was able to get a single shot and although he tired of the game before I did I was never able to get a really good picture.


My guess is that this gorgeous little thing is Mazan's Scallopwing (Staphylus mazans). Mine doesn't look much like the photos in the Swift Guide, but that may be because it was such a very fresh specimen; I did find photos online that resembled this one. I took this picture in the National Park, but also saw one on the grass verge alongside a main road in the town!


I eventually went for Bell's Scallopwing (Staphylus iguala) for this little gem, which had been very cooperative while posing for photos along the side of a track going down into the National Park.

Glassy-winged Skipper (Xenophanes tryxus). I saw a few of these at La Copalita, and another at the edge of the forest near La Bocana.



I got photos of 4 different species of White-skipper; this one was by far the most common. It's Erichson's White-skipper (Helioptes domicella), which I frequently bumped into along roadsides. It's small and much more unobtrusive than might appear from the first photo as it blends in well with the background. It wasn't too easy to photograph as it was very active in the hot sunshine and had a tendency to sit on flimsy-looking flowers which were constantly moving in the breeze.


Laviana White-skipper (Helioptes laviana). This specimen landed close to me in the National Park, but only stayed there for a couple of seconds. I was only able to take one shot - no time to adjust camera settings etc.


Veined White-skipper (Helioptes arsalte). There were 3 or 4 of these at La Bocana, flying around the entangled vines at the edge of the forest in the Nature Reserve. In flight they looked more like small Pierids, and I never got close enough to get a really good look at them. Fortunately I was able to get a long-distance shot which turned out well enough for me to do an ID.


I have no idea what this is. It was a large skipper which was feeding on bird crap on a boardwalk going through a very dark mangrove swamp. In that light the skipper looked black, but I saw it well enough to notice it had white markings flecked on its upperside, but every time I tried to approach it the boardwalk would bounce and disturb the butterfly.


I've identified this as a Coyoye Cloudywing (Achalarus toxeus). This one was feeding from flowers at the side of a road, though I saw similar butterflies in several places. There are a few species of Cloudywings, and identification looks to be difficult especially if the specimens are a bit worn (as they all start to look the same). This was quite fresh and from its dark colour I reckoned it was toxeus.


These photos, and more from my trip, can be found on my increasingly inaccurately-named Australian Butterflies website http://www.purvision.com. I've added a new tab for Mexican butterflies (see menu at the left-hand side).

A fabulous selection of species there Sooty! Took me back to my recent trip to Costa Rica, where we saw several of the species in your posts here. I am seriously jealous of your Sky-blue Greatstreak - what an incredible butterfly!

Wow! What a beautiful smorgasbord of species, Sooty.

I particularly like the Band-celled Sister (Adelpha fessonia). A bit like a White Admiral with Orange Tips! Lovely.

Thanks guys.

Pete - your Costa Rica photos really whetted my appetite for the Huatulco holiday
I wish I could have seen the Elf, but it wasn't on the wing at that time of year.
Like you, I got to see and photograph White-nosed Coatimundis. There were several of them in the La Copaita Eco-Archaeological Park.

I somehow managed not to post a pic of the Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae), which was a bit silly of me given how pleased I was to see it. I didn't see many of them and they were mostly just going about their business at a rate of knots, but they did stop to feed from flowers. This was one of those butterflies that I'd always wanted to observe in the wild...

Hi Sooty,

Sadly I am unable to see your pictures .... I can't get into your website either, it must be my 'overprotected system'.
Do you have a page on flickr?
I completely concur regarding the Gulf Fritillary, a stunning butterfly !
Kind regards,
Sylvie

Terrific report. Very jealous of all your metalmarks and especially the Anteros. Pity you couldn't catch its furry feet .

Tony M.

Hi Sylvie - I've no idea why you wouldn't be able to view my photos and website, unless there's something blocking http requests between you and Canada (which is where my website is hosted).

Tony - unfortunately I really didn't get a decent look at its legs, which was a shame because I've seen plenty of photos. With its shiny colours and those silly legs the Carousing Jewelmark looks like the singer of some 1970s Glam Rock band, wearing gold lamé clothes and flared trousers!

That Gulf Fritillary, for any butterfly enthusiast, has to be one of those 'to see before I die'.

Fabulous.

thanks for sharing those wonderful pics with us Sooty !

i love the Mazan's Scallopwing... a great photo.