The New Neotropical Companion

Owls and Witches

Put out a few overripe bananas at night in the Neotropics,

and soon both a large brownish butterfly and a big dark

moth will appear. The Owl Butterfly (Caligo memnon;

plate 16- 97) and the Black Witch (Ascalapha odorata) are

among the largest of the tropical lepidopterans, and they

tend to be strongly crepuscular (active at dusk and dawn),

though adults fly during the day in deep rain forest shade.

They feed on rotting fruits, hence their orientation to

bananas. Black Witches are occasionally mistaken for

bats in the evening twilight as they flutter about a banana

bunch, and this species is frequently flushed from shaded

sites such as hollow trees during the day, again giving rise

to the mistaken notion that it is a bat.

Morphos

The blue morphos (genus Morpho; plates 4- 19 and 11-

3– 4) are among the most spectacular of Neotropical

butterflies. Large, with brilliant deep blue upper wings

that seem to glow in sunlight, morphos are deceptively

swift fliers able to elude the most persistent wielder of

an insect net. Common along streams and other sunlit

areas, they feed on a wide variety of plant species. When

on the ground or on a tree with their upper wings

hidden, morphos are cryptic, but they are (to put it

mildly) obvious in the air. Their striking patterning and

color, visible only in flight, has been termed the “flash

and dazzle” strategy of capture avoidance. There are

about 80 species of blue morphos, all members of the

family Morphidae.

Ant- following Butterflies

There is a group of butterfly species that accompany

army ant swarms, especially the swarms of Eciton

burchelli (chapter 10). These so- called ant- butterflies

or army ant butterflies are all members of the large

family Nymphalidae and the subfamily Ithomiinae.

They generally resemble Heliconius species. Only

female army ant butterflies actually orient to the army

ant swarms. Anywhere from eight to 12 females may

fly about the swarm (researchers captured as many as

30 within a few hours at some swarms). The butterflies

are feeding on the droppings of ant- following birds,

probably using the droppings as a nitrogen source,

necessary in forming eggs.

The Urine Butterflies

One common sight throughout the Neotropics is the

massing of butterflies along exposed riverbanks and

other areas where cattle, or other creatures, have recently

urinated (plate 16- 98). Most of these are yellow, gold, or

white butterflies, often in the genus Phoebis in the whites

and sulphurs family, Pieridae. Males are bright yellow,

with orange on the forepart of the wing, and females

are more uniformly orange, with black lining the outer

part of the wings. Sulphurs range from the United States

through the Neotropics and are inhabitants of open

areas and forest edges. They feed on many of the flowers,

such as Lantana, that are common tropical roadside

weeds. They aggregate at pools containing urine from

cattle or humans. The urine supplies them with sodium

Plate 16- 97. An Owl Butterfly resting in the shade of the forest

understory during the day. Photo by John Kricher.

Plate 16- 98. A swarm of butterflies at a urine site, including

many pierids (whites and sulphurs) and swallowtails. Photo by

Dennis Paulson.

chapter 16 from monkeys to tarantulas: endless eccentricities 361