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Some Mariposas of Jaltemba Bay
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This is known to butterfly enthusiasts as a "puddle party", where butterflies congregate to lap up nutrient-rich fresh water.
On the nearby beach of Playa las Cuevas ("Cave Beach") a Great Southern White (Ascia monuste) sails in to join three Dark Kite-Swallowtails (Protographium philolaus) and a Mexican Kite-Swallowtail (P. epidaus).
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While we're not particularly butterfly enthusiasts, we enjoy seeing the large number and variety of lepidopterans visiting the shrubs and vines just outside the windows of our computer room.
Other than the beach photo above and another taken in the forest, we photographed all of the butterflies and moths on this page in our yard and, in some cases, inside our house. There could be many more species illustrated here but butterflies just aren't good at holding still for pictures.
We thank our friend Gerry Einem for his enthusiam on this subject and for his expert assistance in identifying many of the animals on this page.
Please email
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regarding any corrections needed on this page.
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A very common butterfly here, this individual has narrowly escaped being dinner for a bird or a lizard. Resting on Bougainvillea sp.
Either Thoas Swallowtail (Papilio thoas) or Giant Swallowtail (P. cresphontes) but I'd have to capture it to know for certain.
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A Swallowtail without an obvious tail, the Pink-Spotted Swallowtail (Heraclides rogeri) feeding on Caesalpinia pulcherrima.
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Above: a White-Angled Sulphur (Anteos clorinde)
Right: an Orange-Barred Sulphur (Phoebis philea)
both feeding at Ixora coccinea.
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A Sky-blue Hairstreak (Pseudolycaena damo, above left) and just a hint (left) of the brilliant, iridescent colour of its upper wings, seen only in flight. Wingspan ~ 9cm.
Above right, an Eastern Tailed-Blue (Everes comyntas) with a wingspan of just 2 cm. It's tough to photograph such a small creature and extremely fortuitous that I found two individuals together showing both sides of the wings.
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A Pixie (Melanis pixe) trying to hide in a Monstera sp.
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A Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) feeding at Caesalpinia pulcherrima.
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A Julia (Dryas iulia) hanging out in our Jasmine.
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At left a White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae) photographed in the forest.
At right a Banded Peacock (Anartia fatima), one of the most common butterflies in our yard.
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Malachites (Siproeta stelenes). These two individuals and others spend the night beneath the leaves of the Devil's Ivy (Epipremnum aureum) climbing our back wall.
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A small Checkerspot butterfly, possibly Chlosyne sp., perched on a blade of a coarse grass.
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A small Spreadwing Skipper (Thessia jalapus?) feeding on Bougainvillea.
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A small (4-5 cm) Sootywing Skipper in the house.
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A Skipper (6-7cm) on the floor waiting for a cat to play with.
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Black Witch Moths (Ascalapha odorata) on the ceiling, a male (left) and a female (right). These large (~15 cm wingspan) creatures were known to the Aztecs as "mariposas de la muerte" ("butterflies of death"), but the only problem we've found with their visits is that they need help finding their way back outside afterward.
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Nature 
