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Blue Morpho
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Butterflies in Costa Rica
Of
all the insects, none elicit pleasure and curiosity
more than
butterflies.
Whether you are in the mountains or at the beach,
butterflies are ever
present
during your visit to Costa Rica. There is nowhere
you can go, whether a
3,000
meter volcanic summit or the dry plains of
Guanacaste where butterflies
are
not present.
Costa Rica is unusually blessed by the diversity of
it's butterflies.
There
exists about 20,000 butterfly species worldwide. Of
these, about 1,000
or
5% can be found in Costa Rica. §
continued below ...
Predators and Defense
The list of butterfly predators is long. Suffice it
to mention just
ants,
spiders, wasps, parasitic wasps, parasitic flies,
birds, rats, toads,
lizards,
praying mantis, snakes and monkeys. There is little
that would not like
to
eat a butterfly in one or another of its life
stages.
Butterflies have developed many ways to protect
themselves from their
predators.
We could divide them into 2 simple groups: good
tasting and bad
tasting.
A butterfly that is good tasting is one that is
regularly consumed by
large
predators like birds, snakes and lizards. A bad
tasting butterfly is
avoided
by large predators due to its undesirable taste.
| Butterflies and
Moths of Costa Rica |
Owl Butterfly |
Glasswing |
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Camouflage and Mimicry
To be good tasting and bright is dangerous for an
appetizing butterfly.
Therefore
the good tasting species camouflage themselves by
being dull colors.
Bad tasting butterflies are colorful as adults and
have toxins in their
bodies
that make the predator sick. The predator once
having suffered the
consequences
of consuming such a butterfly will easily remember
the bright color of
the
wings. It will know from that time on to avoid
that color pattern.
Although
one butterfly will be killed from such an
encounter, many more will
live.
Mimicry is another effective defense. It is used
by brightly colored
species
that are also good tasting. Their bright color
patterns have evolved to
appear
like those of the poisonous butterflies. One
example is the orange and
black
colored Viceroy which is strikingly similar to the
poisonous Monarch. A
predator
that's experienced a monarch would never again
venture consuming
another
orange and black specimen. §
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Butterfly Breeding and Reproduction
Female butterflies are programmed to know where
and when they will lay
their
eggs. The males program is to mate with the female
at the right time so
he
has to follow the same pattern.
Lets look at this starting with non migratory
butterflies. A female
hatches
out of the cocoon and her program says to mate and
begin laying eggs
right
away in the immediate location. Every female of
this species has this
program.
They will quickly seek a male, mate, and lay their
eggs on the
hostplant.
A migratory butterfly has a different program. The
big question is
where
does this program come from? Also, what triggers
the running of the
program
which, in turn, makes the butterflies leave their
present location and
head
for another. It could be climate conditions , or
temperature, or an
internal
clock that sends them on their way.
For most of the rainy season, the butterflies of
the Pacific coast have
a
program that says lay your eggs in the same area
where you hatched. So,
the
butterflies live their lives in the same place. At
the end of the
rains,
the females that come out have a different program
that says "seek out
the
rains and lay your eggs there." Off they go to the
Atlantic slope and
there
they will stay until the rain return the following
year. Essentially,
they
are searching for the ideal climate to reproduce
themselves. §
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Differences Between a Moth and a Butterfly
What is the difference between a moth and a
butterfly? There isn't a
single
defining characteristic that defines a moth versus
a butterfly. Rather
there
are a number of characteristics. The following is
a list of most of the
differences:
1. A butterfly flies by day, and a moth by night.
There are some day
flying moths and butterflies that fly at dusk.
2. A butterfly always has a feeding mechanism
(proboscis), whereas a
moth
often does not. These moths simply do not eat as
adults as they have
done
all their eating as larvae.
3. A butterfly rests with its wings closed and a
moth lands with them
open.
A notable exception are the butterflies of the
Hamadryas genus
(Nymphaliinae)
that always land with their wings laid flat.
4. A butterfly forms a pupae hanging. A moth forms
a cocoon, usually on
the ground.
5. The antennae of a butterfly are straight and
club-like. The antennae
of
a moth vary greatly but are usually brush like
with a great deal more
surface
area. §
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