Butterflies of Cuba
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    • Species List >
      • Papilionidae : Papilioninae >
        • Battus devilliers - De Villiers' Swallowtail
        • Battus polydamas - Polydamas Swallowtail
        • Heraclides andraemon - Bahaman Swallowtail
        • Heraclides androgeus - Androgeus Swallowtail
        • Heraclides caiguanabus - Poey's Swallowtail
        • Heraclides oviedo - Oviedo's Swallowtail
        • Heraclides oxynius - Cuban Black Swallowtail
        • Heraclides pelaus - Pelaus Swallowtail
        • Heraclides ponceana - Dusky Swallowtail
        • Neographium celadon - Cuban Kite Swallowtail
        • Papilio demoleus - Lime Swallowtail
        • Papilio polyxenes - Black Swallowtail
        • Parides gundlachianus - Gundlach's Swallowtail
        • Pterourus palamedes - Palamedes Swallowtail
        • Pterourus troilus - Spicebush Swallowtail
      • Hesperiidae : Eudaminae >
        • Aguna asander - Gold-spotted Aguna
        • Aguna claxon - Emerald Aguna
        • Autochton potrillo - Potrillo Skipper
        • Cecropterus dorantes - Dorantes Longtial
        • Chioides marmorosa - Cuban Longtail
        • Epargyreus zestos - Zestos Skipper
        • Phocides pigmalion - Mangrove Skipper
        • Polygonus leo - Hammock Skipper
        • Proteides maysi - May's Skipper
        • Proteides mercurius - Cuban Mercurial Skipper
        • Telegonus anausis - Caribbean Yellow-tipped Flasher
        • Telegonus cassander - Cuban Flasher
        • Telegonus cellus - Golden-banded Skipper
        • Telegonus habana - Frosty Flasher
        • Telegonus talus - Green Flasher
        • Telegonus xagua - Antillean Flasher
        • Urbanus proteus - Common Long-tailed Skipper
      • Hesperiidae : Hesperiinae >
        • Asbolis capucinus - Monk Skipper
        • Atalopedes mesogramma - Mesogramma Skipper
        • Calpodes ethlius - Canna Skipper
        • Carystoides mexicana - Mexican Ruby-eye
        • Choranthus radians - Radians Skipper
        • Cymaenes tripunctus - Three-spotted Skipper
        • Euphyes cornelius - Cornelius Skipper
        • Euphyes singularis - Singularis Skipper
        • Holguinia holguin - Holguin Skipper
        • Hylephila phyleus - Fiery Skipper
        • Lerodea eufala - Eufala Skipper
        • Nyctelius nyctelius - Violet-banded Skipper
        • Oarisma bruneri - Bruner's Skipperling
        • Oarisma nanus - Nanus Skipperling
        • Panoquina corrupta - Corrupt Skipper
        • Panoquina lucas - Purple-washed Skipper
        • Panoquina ocola - Ocola Skipper
        • Panoquina panoquinoides - Obscure Skipper
        • Parachoranthus magdalia - Magdalia Skipper
        • Perichares philetes - Caribbean Ruby-eye
        • Polites baracoa - Baracoa Skipper
        • Pyrrhocalles antiqua - Caribbean Skipper
        • Rhinthon cubana - Cuban Rhinthon
        • Saliana esperi - Perching Saliana
        • Synapte malitiosa - Caribbean Faceted Skipper
        • Wallengrenia misera - Cuban Broken-dash
      • Hesperiidae : Pyrginae >
        • Anastrus sempiternus - Common Anastrus
        • Burca braco - Braco Skipper
        • Burca concolor - Concolorous Skipper
        • Burca cubensis - Cuban Skipper
        • Burnsius crisia - Antillean Checkered Skipper
        • Burnsius oileus - Tropical Checkered Skipper
        • Chiomara gundlachi - Gundlach's Duskywing
        • Eantis munroei - Munroe's Sicklewing
        • Eantis papinianus - Cuban Sicklewing
        • Ephyriades brunnea - Florida Duskywing
        • Ephyriades zephodes - Zephodes Duskywing
        • Erynnis zarucco - Zarucco Skipper
        • Gesta gesta - Impostor Duskywing
        • Ouleus fridericus - Fridericus Spreadwing
      • Pieridae : Colladinae >
        • Abaeis nicippe - Sleepy Orange
        • Anteos clorinde - White-angled Sulphur
        • Anteos maerula - Yellow-angled Sulphur
        • Colias eurytheme - Orange Sulphur
        • Eurema amelia - Cuban Yellow
        • Eurema boisduvaliana - Boisduval's Yellow
        • Eurema daira - Barred Yellow
        • Eurema elathea - Banded Yellow
        • Eurema lucina - Smudged Yellow
        • Kricogonia cabrerai - Cuban Sulphur
        • Kricogonia lyside - Lyside Sulphur
        • Nathalis iole - Dainty Sulphur
        • Phoebis agarithe - Large Orange Sulphur
        • Phoebis argante - Apricot Sulphur
        • Phoebis avellaneda - Orange-washed Sulphur
        • Phoebis neleis - Neleis Sulphur
        • Phoebis orbis - Orbis Sulphur
        • Phoebis philea - Orange-barred Sulphur
        • Phoebis sennae - Cloudless Sulphur
        • Phoebis statira - Statira Sulphur
        • Pyrisitia chamberlaini - Chamberlain's Yellow
        • Pyrisitia dina - Bush Sulphur
        • Pyrisitia larae - Confusing Yellow
        • Pyrisitia lisa - Little Yellow
        • Pyrisitia messalina - Whitish Yellow
        • Pyrisitia nise - Mimosa Yellow
        • Pyrisitia proterpia - Tailed Orange
        • Pyrisitia venusta - Pale Yellow
        • Zerene cesonia - Southern Dogface
      • Pieridae : Dismorphiinae >
        • Dismorphia cubana - Cuban Mimic-White
      • Pieridae : Pierinae >
        • Ascia monuste - Great Southern White
        • Ganyra menciae - Cuban White
        • Glutophrissa drusilla - Florida White
        • Melete salacia - Black-striped White
        • Pontia protodice - Checkered White
      • Riodinidae >
        • Dianesia carteri - Caribbean Metalmark
      • Lycaenidae : Polyommatinae >
        • Brephidium exilis - Pygmy Blue
        • Cupido comyntas - Eastern Tailed-Blue
        • Cyclargus ammon - Nickerbean Blue
        • Cyclargus thomasi - Miami Blue
        • Hemiargus ceraunus - Ceraunus Blue
        • Leptotes cassius - Cassius Blue
        • Leptotes hedgesi - Hedges' Blue
        • Pseudochrysops bornoi - Antillean Blue
      • Lycaenidae : Theclinae >
        • Allosmaitia coelebs - Cuban Hairstreak
        • Chlorostrymon maesites - Amethyst Hairstreak
        • Chlorostrymon simaethis - Silver-banded Hairstreak
        • Electrostrymon angelia - Fulvous Hairstreak
        • Eumaeus atala - Atala Hairstreak
        • Ministrymon azia - Grey Ministreak
        • Nesiostrymon celida - Caribbean Hairstreak
        • Strymon acis - Bartram's Scrub-Hairstreak
        • Strymon bazochii - Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak
        • Strymon istapa - Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak
        • Strymon limenia - Limenia Scrub-Hairstreak
        • Strymon martialis - Martial Scrub-Hairstreak
        • Strymon toussainti - Toussaint's Scrub-Hairstreak
      • Nymphalidae : Apaturinae >
        • Asterocampa idyja - Dusky Emperor
        • Doxocopa laure - Silver Emperor
      • Nymphalidae : Biblidinae >
        • Dynamine postverta - Mexican Sailor
        • Dynamine serina - Caribbean Sailor
        • Eunica heraclitus - Cuban Purplewing
        • Eunica monima - Dingy Purplewing
        • Eunica tatila - Florida Purplewing
        • Hamadryas amphinome - Red Cracker
        • Hamadryas februa - Gray Cracker
        • Hamadryas feronia - Variable Cracker
        • Lucinia sida - Caribbean Banner
      • Nymphalidae : Charaxinae >
        • Anaea cubana - Cuban Leafwing
        • Archaeoprepona demophoon - Two-spotted Prepona
        • Cymatogramma echemus - Chestnut Leafwing
        • Hypna clytemnestra - Silver-studded Leafwing
        • Siderone galanthis - Red-striped Leafwing
      • Nymphalidae : Cyrestinae >
        • Marpesia chiron - Many-banded Daggerwing
        • Marpesia eleuchea - Caribbean Daggerwing
      • Nymphalidae : Danainae >
        • Anetia briarea - Many-spotted King
        • Anetia cubana - Cuban King
        • Anetia pantherata - Great King
        • Danaus eresimus - Soldier
        • Danaus gilippus - Queen
        • Danaus plexippus - Monarch
        • Greta cubana - Cuban Clearwing
        • Lycorea halia - Tiger Mimic Queen
      • Nymphalidae : Heliconiinae >
        • Agraulis vanillae - Gulf Fritillary
        • Dryas iulia - Flambeau
        • Eueides isabella - Isabella's Heliconian
        • Euptoieta claudia - Variegated Fritillary
        • Euptoieta hegesia - Mexican Fritillary
        • Heliconius charithonia - Zebra Heliconian
      • Nymphalidae : Libytheinae >
        • Libytheana carinenta - American Snout
        • Libytheana motya - Cuban Snout
        • Libytheana terena - Antillean Snout
      • Nymphalidae Limenitinae >
        • Adelpha iphicleola - Iphicleola Sister
        • Limenitis archippus - Viceroy
      • Nymphalidae : Nymphalinae >
        • Anartia chrysopelea - Cuban Peacock
        • Anartia jatrophae - White Peacock
        • Anthanassa frisia - Cuban Crescent
        • Antillea pelops - Antillean Crescent
        • Atlantea perezi - Cuban Checkerspot
        • Colobura dirce - Mosaic
        • Historis acheronta - Tailed Cecropian
        • Historis odius - Stinky Leafwing
        • Hypanartia paullus - Antillean Mapwing
        • Hypolimnas misippus - The Mimic
        • Junonia coenia - Common Buckeye
        • Junonia neildi - Mangrove Buckeye
        • Junonia zonalis - Tropical Buckeye
        • Phyciodes phaon - Phaon Crescent
        • Polygonia interrogationis - Question Mark
        • Siproeta stelenes - Malachite
        • Vanessa atalanta - Red Admiral
        • Vanessa cardui - Painted Lady
        • Vanessa virginiensis - American Lady
      • Nymphalidae : Satyrinae >
        • Calisto aquilum - Cuban Dark Calisto
        • Calisto bradleyi - Bradley's Calisto
        • Calisto brochei - Broche's Calisto
        • Calisto bruneri - Bruner's Calisto
        • Calisto disjunctus - Western Cuban Calisto
        • Calisto dissimulatum - Mimic Calisto
        • Calisto gundlachi - Gandlach's Calisto
        • Calisto herophile - Cuban Common Calisto
        • Calisto israeli - Israel's Calisto
        • Calisto lastrai - Lastra's Calisto
        • Calisto muripetens - Guamuahaya Calisto
        • Calisto occulta - Hidden Calisto
        • Calisto sharkeyae - Sharkey's Calisto
        • Calisto siguanensis - Sand Calisto
        • Calisto smintheus - Cuban Rusty Calisto
        • Calisto torrei - Torre's Calisto
    • Download Species List
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      • Papilionidae - Swallowtails
      • Hesperiidae - Skippers
      • Pieridae - Whites & Yellows
      • Riodinidae / Lycaenidae - Metalmarks, Hairstreaks & Blues
      • Nymphalidae - Nymphalids
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day 1 - 15 june - holguin to moa

11/7/2016

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Just back from our latest trip to Cuba and what a great time we had. This time we spent two weeks exploring the far eastern end of the island. Our companions this time were our friend Douglas Fernández on the left and our driver Leandro Salmon on the right. Leandro was a very good and careful driver, always on time and looked after us very well while Doug was not only a great companion but a mine of information on anything lepidopteran, or botanical for that matter so I learnt a huge amount. Not only is he extremely adept in identifying adult butterflies however brief the view but is also a caterpillar maestro! He has bred a large number of the Cuban species and because he can recognise many of the foodplants has an unerring knack for finding larvae in the field. Often no sooner than we had got out of the van than he was calling me over to see the latest find - and before I had finished photographing that he had found the next. So, a big thank you to Doug and to Leandro for making it such a great trip.
Picture
Doug, Tim, Lynn and Leandro
And what did we see? Well the total was 113 butterfly species with 44 of those also found as immature stages - a remarkable total by anyone's standards. Add to that lots of good birds, reptiles and dragonflies, including some we hadn't seen before and it meant that there were always new and exciting finds every day. We didn't manage to find or photograph any butterfly species new for the website (it still stands at 5 to go) but I think that was probably due to the timing of the trip. We had hoped that we might find Antillean Blue Pseudochrysops bornoi but although we found its only known site on Cuba there was no sign of the butterfly. The Cuban subspecies was first discovered on 1 October 1991 and I don't know what other months if any it has been seen in Cuba. It has not been photographed in Cuba to date and nor has Toussaint's Scrub-Hairstreak Strymon toussainti as far as I'm aware.
Our flight arrived in Holguin on Tuesday 14 June and our route took us east to Moa, Baracoa and the Alejandro de Humboldt NP, then south over the mountains to Cajobabo on the south coast and then west to San Antonio del Sur and Guantanamo. We would then spend some time at La Gran Piedra at 4,000ft just east of Santiago before exploring the coast between Santiago and Guantanemo and then returning to Holguin for the flight home.
Our flight from Gatwick to Holguin with Thomas Cook Airlines was uneventful and once through security we quickly picked up our bags and met up with Doug and Leandro. We stayed the night at a casa in Holguin called the Refugio de Reyes Guesthouse. This is rated the No. 1 casa in Holguin on Trip Advisor and is a great place to stay. Its owners Sarah and David speak English and provide superb food - we thoroughly recommend staying here if you are looking for somewhere in Holguin.
Refugio de Reyes Guesthouse, Holguin
Refugio de Reyes Guesthouse, Holguin
In the morning we headed east towards Moa and our first stop was at Nipe reservoir. We had stopped here once before and seen Snail Kite, Osprey and quite a few other water birds but on this occasion there were few birds though I could hear Killdeer calling but failed to see them. There was however a steady stream of butterflies of several species all heading NE across the water and up over the embankment of the reservoir. They included Androgeus and Bahaman Swallowtail Heraclides androgeus and H. andraemon, Yellow-angled and White-angled Sulphur Anteos maerula and A. clorinde, several sulphurs probably Statira Sulphur Phoebis statira, Stinky Leafwing Historis odius, Gray Cracker Hamadryas februa, Many-banded and Caribbean Daggerwing Marpesia chiron and M. eleuchea, Large Orange Sulphur Phoebis agarithe and Great Southern White Ascia monuste. This was a very promising start! We also searched for larvae on the Cassia grandis tree at the entrance without success. This is the foodplant of at least two of the Phoebis and Statira Sulphur Phoebis statira. In the garden there we also searched the Canna plant for larvae of Cuban Rhinthon Rhinthon cubana but no luck!
Nipe Reservoir 15 Jun 2016 © Tim Norriss
searching Cassia grandis 15 Jun 2016 © Tim Norriss
Cassia grandis 15 Jun 2016 © Tim Norriss
Canna sp 15 Jun 2016 © Tim Norriss
When we were back on the road we had a discussion about whether to divert for a few hours up to Pinares de Mayari. We had all been there before and found it a very productive place though being fairly high up things can be weather dependent. We decided that as we had the time we would give it a go so we turned south in Pinares on the road leading up into the hills. Leandro was a little concerned as the last time he had been there three years before the road was not very good but the rest of us had been there last year and the road was much improved. We had been hoping to find a new Calisto that was found in the area last year but has not yet been described. We found a few Cuban Calisto Calisto herophile but not the main target. The best things we saw were our first Orange-washed Sulphur Phoebis avellaneda. This was our first sighting of this large pierid and what a beauty it is. It was flying round a tree next to the road looking for somewhere to settle out of the sun. When it did and after we had taken photos Doug netted it so that we could see the upperside before releasing it. Another good find here was several larvae of the hawk-moth Pseudosphinx tetrio Tetrio Sphinx which is found from the southern US south to Brazil. The larvae grow up to 150mm long though these weren’t fully grown and were feeding I think on a Frangipani Plumeria.
Pinares de Mayari
Phoebis avellaneda Orange-washed Sulphur 15 Jun 2016 Pinares de Mayari © Tim Norriss
Phoebis avellaneda Orange-washed Sulphur 15 Jun 2016 Pinares de Mayari © Tim Norriss
Pseudosphinx tetrio larva 15 Jun 2016 © Tim Norriss
Picture
Cuban Side-blotched Curlytail Leiocaphalus macropus 15 Jun 2016 Pinares de Mayari © Tim Norriss
On our way up we had noticed a flowering Bauhinia tree by the road so on the way back down we stopped to search for Aguna larvae. It didn’t take long to find several larvae of Gold-spotted Aguna Aguna asander in their distinctive leaf shelters formed by spinning the two halves of the leaf together with silk. These were the only ones we saw on the trip so I’m glad we stopped. The other Aguna species – Emerald Aguna Aguna claxon is something that we haven’t caught up with on any of our visits yet. It has been seen only in the west at Guanahacabibes and at Zapata. The larvae differ in having all-dark heads.
Bauhinia sp 15 June 2016 Pinares © Tim Norriss
Bauhinia sp 15 June 2016 Pinares © Tim Norriss
Gold-spotted Aguna Aguna asander larva Pinares © Tim Norriss
Back on the main road towards Moa we made a roadside stop for fruit, this time for pineapple, something we often did during the trip. It proved a useful stop in more ways than one as not only was the pineapple delicious but there were butterflies too on the small grassy area behind. A Eurema with a dark bar looked interesting enough for Doug to get the net out and he was right to do so as it proved to be a male Banded Yellow Eurema elathea. The black bar on the forewing was near enough straight rather than distinctly curved as in Barred Yellow Eurema daira. This was the first time we had seen E. elathea on Cuba though we have seen it recently in Costa Rica. It appears to only occur in the far east of Cuba.
pineapple stop
Banded Yellow Eurema elathea 15 Jun 2016 nr Moa © Tim Norriss
Banded Yellow Eurema elathea 15 Jun 2016 nr Moa © Tim Norriss
Three-spotted Skipper Cymaenes tripunctus larva 15 Jun 2016 nr Moa © Tim Norriss
We were soon back on our way to the Hotel Miraflores in Moa for a one-night stay. There was a little delay as at first the hotel had no record of our booking although we had the paperwork to prove it. This sort of thing is not unusual in Cuba where there is a saying 'In Cuba everything is possible - but nothing is guaranteed!'. Doug soon had the problem sorted though with his winning smile, and we were shown to our rooms and then off to the restaurant.
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