Archaeoprepona demophon centralis

Thanks goes to our great friend and national Lepidoptera expert, Isidro Chacon, for helping me to identify this butterfly, photographed feeding on papaya in the garden at LCO. It is Archaeoprepona demophon centralis (Nymphalidae: Charaxinae). The distribution of this species ranges between Mexico and the Amazon Basin, 0 - 1,600 meters above sea level, and in association with all forest types and old second-growth habitats.

Butterflies and Moths.

We are proud to say that we have some very talented friends! Among them, are Costa Rican lepidopterists, Isidro Chacon and José Montero. This image shows the cover of their recently published book, Butterflies and Moths of Costa Rica (INBio, 2007). This is a monumental work, packed with gorgeous full color images of caterpillar larvae and adult butterflies and moths, as well as beautiful taxonomic diagrams, and detailed information (bi-lingual texts). Anyone interested in Costa Rican natural history should own a copy. This was my birthday gift to Reinaldo and for his purposes, involving the documentation of plant-insect interactions, it will be an indespensible tool. Certainly, this is going to help me to identify what I'm seeing, both in the forest and in the garden. Did you know that Costa Rica boasts some 12,000 - 14,000 species of Lepidopterans?