Earlier this week I received news from Douglas Fernández who was co-leading the recent Boletas birds and butterflies tour to Cuba. Douglas was the local butterfly expert and they had great success in seeing 76 species in ten days - that’s nearly 40% of the total butterfly fauna.
He was excited to find larvae of the Monarch Danaus plexippus at La Güira, Pinar del Río, and at Soplillar, Matanzas. This species has become uncommon so he says it was rewarding to come across with it again. On Cuba the Monarch is non-migratory and doesn’t need to make the long migration to Mexico that the eastern North American population does to avoid the harsh winter further north.
They also found Singularis Skipper Euphyes singularis at Santo Tomás, Zapata Swamp, Matanzas. Alayo & Hernández (1987) report a specimen of this skipper collected in November 1964 at a location named Buenaventura, also in Zapata Swamp, but apparently it is more frequently seen in the east of the island, which is where we have seen it just twice at Guardalavaca.
Douglas has sent me some lovely pictures from the trip which he has agreed to let me share with you below. Thank you Doug.
He was excited to find larvae of the Monarch Danaus plexippus at La Güira, Pinar del Río, and at Soplillar, Matanzas. This species has become uncommon so he says it was rewarding to come across with it again. On Cuba the Monarch is non-migratory and doesn’t need to make the long migration to Mexico that the eastern North American population does to avoid the harsh winter further north.
They also found Singularis Skipper Euphyes singularis at Santo Tomás, Zapata Swamp, Matanzas. Alayo & Hernández (1987) report a specimen of this skipper collected in November 1964 at a location named Buenaventura, also in Zapata Swamp, but apparently it is more frequently seen in the east of the island, which is where we have seen it just twice at Guardalavaca.
Douglas has sent me some lovely pictures from the trip which he has agreed to let me share with you below. Thank you Doug.
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