We checked out of the Rio Miel hotel, Baracoa this morning and headed just to the east of the town in search of an area that Rayner Núñez had asked us to visit. He said that there was a potentially new and undescribed species of Skipper here that he wanted us to look for! We turned off north on unmade roads and stopped and asked the locals for directions on the way. Today was Father's Day and this is a big thing in Cuba. Both Leandro and Douglas had been receiving calls on their mobiles from family and friends since breakfast this morning. Many people were carrying cakes, all decorated with blue and white icing, for the festivities.
Father's Day cakes
Rayner had been a little vague on how to find the place although he had sent a photo of the habitat and the name of the site. It soon became clear why when the road became more and more uneven and eventually impassable in our vehicle. We reluctantly gave up on the attempt and decided to park up and explore the lanes on which we had been traveling – what a good move! We didn’t find the skipper but there were a host of other butterflies including the endemic Orange-washed Sulphur Phoebis avellaneda and various larvae that kept us occupied for several hours, and two anoles including Cuban Brown Anole Anolis sagrei displaying which was the first time in all visits that we had seen one displaying by extending its dewlap.
The lanes and paths were great habitat and we had our only sighting of the trip here of another endemic, the Cuban Peacock Anartia chrysopelea. Douglas has a good knowledge of Cuban plants especially butterfly larval foodplants and one of his first great finds here was a larva of Red-striped Leafwing Siderone galanthis. feeding on Casearia sp. They have a peculiar and distinctive forward and backward rocking motion when moving. Doug then proceeded to tell me that he had seen the the pictures on the website of an adult I had photographed at Soroa and that in fact it was a female laying on Casearia! I had been so focused on trying to get pictures at the time that I hadn't realised this - what an opportunity missed.
Lots more larvae followed including Impostor Duskywing Gesta gesta, Three-spotted Skipper Cymaenes tripunctus, Lime and Bahaman Swallowtail Heraclides andraemon and Hammock Skipper Polygonus leo.
It was getting quite hot by now and Leandro spotted some locals eating ice lollies. He went to investigate and reappeared shortly afterwards with ice lollies for all of us - just what we needed. Later Doug called me over to see another great find - larvae of the Mosaic Colobura dirce on a small Cecropia tree. The eggs are laid on the upperside of the leaves, unlike Stinky Leafwing Historis odius that lays on the underside, and the small larvae feed at first on leaf sections between the veins leaving the veins uneaten and on which they rest openly. Later they chew through the bases of the main ribs of the large leaves causing the leaflets to hang down forming a shelter under which the larvae live gregariously. We have only ever seen one adult so far on all our trips and these were the first larvae, but now we know what to look for...
We had a nice Dusky Swallowtail Heraclides ponceana fly close past us - I've never yet seen one land or even take nectar but they are said to do so.
Cubans have a great sense of fun and this graffiti carved on some gourds growing on a tree caused us some amusement too. We saw Monk Skipper Asbolis capucinus and Great Southern White Ascia monuste larvae - surprisingly hard to find considering how common the adults can be. Doug also found two Proteides skipper larvae but wasn't sure which of the two species they were as he didn't recognise the foodplant and hadn't seen it before. Because of this we didn't keep them to rear them through to find out as without the right foodplant they wouldn't survive and we would be on our way further east in a couple of days.
Cubans have a great sense of fun and this graffiti carved on some gourds growing on a tree caused us some amusement too. We saw Monk Skipper Asbolis capucinus and Great Southern White Ascia monuste larvae - surprisingly hard to find considering how common the adults can be. Doug also found two Proteides skipper larvae but wasn't sure which of the two species they were as he didn't recognise the foodplant and hadn't seen it before. Because of this we didn't keep them to rear them through to find out as without the right foodplant they wouldn't survive and we would be on our way further east in a couple of days.
We drove back through Baracoa seeing the statue of Christopher Columbus (I wonder if it survived Hurricane Matthew?) as we went and then checked into the Porto Santo Hotel on the western edge of town. This was a great move as it has a lovely pool, great views, nice gardens, and good food and rooms - definitely recommended.
Christopher Columbus, Baracoa
Later we took a walk out along the airport road to the west and found several Hammock Skipper Polygonus leo and eggs and larvae. Like most species the larvae change considerably in appearance in the later instars. The fourth instar larva (bottom right) exuded a brown liquid as a deterrent when I opened the leaf shelter in which it was hiding and this has marked its head.
airport road, Baracoa
We saw 41 species of butterfly today and brought the total to 80 species in five days. We would only have found a small percentage of the eggs and larvae without Doug, and this was to be the the case throughout the trip so we are very grateful to him.
And the sting in the tale? There isn't one apart from that on this rather splendid 50mm scorpion found hiding behind a rock. I don't know if it would hurt as I didn't pick it up to find out.
And the sting in the tale? There isn't one apart from that on this rather splendid 50mm scorpion found hiding behind a rock. I don't know if it would hurt as I didn't pick it up to find out.
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