Our next exciting find was a Caribbean Banner Lucinia sida larva. This was the first time Rayner had seen one though he had often looked on the foodplant Serjania. I’m not sure of the species but it was possibly S. diversifolia. We saw the adult L. sida most days but finding a larva was a real turn-up.
We also watched as two or three female Androgeus Swallowtails Heraclides androgeus laid numerous eggs on the bushes adjacent to the road and also found a larva that had just shed its skin
Sometimes, as it did today, a storm would brew up in the late afternoon. Today it did this while we had gone for walk a short walk from the hotel but apart from threatening skies and thunder and lightning overhead there was nothing more than a few drops of rain. We added Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak Strymon istapa to the list and while Lynn went for a swim I sat on the balcony enjoying the view and trying to get shots of the Antillean Nighthawks that would appear at this time of of the evening.
The larvae of Impostor Duskywing Gesta gesta and Zarucco Duskywing Erynnis zarucco that we were rearing through were growing quickly and looked as if it wouldn't be long before they pupated.
My attempts to operate the second floor landing of the hotel as a moth trap by ensuring the lights were on and leaving the windows at each end open met with some success and each morning I would check to see what had come in. I had toyed with the idea of taking an MV bulb with me but as this was primarily a butterfly trip I decided against it.
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