![]() ![]() I wasn’t able to identify it until I got back to my room later (it was gone by then) and actually found it in my book The Wildlife of Costa Rica: A Field Guide (by Reid, Leenders, Zook and Dean published by Comstock Publishing Associates), a beautifully illustrated guide to some of the flashier and more easily seen wildlife species in Costa Rica. The pattern of its wings made me think it was a nerve-winged insect (Order Neuroptera) at first, and I was able to get some great close-up photos of the insect without disturbing it. It was large, about the size of one of our fishflies, brown and beige with wings at one end and a weird protrusion on its head at the other, and a couple of legs sticking out at the side. It was another gorgeous day, and I saw my first interesting bug of the trip on the ground right outside our front door. I’m just really thankful I wasn’t waking up at 3:30 am like I was on our previous trip! This would become my normal morning routine for the next seven days: with the two-hour time difference, I was usually awake by 5:00 am since my body still thought it was 7:00 am EDT. I woke up early on our first morning in Costa Rica, so I grabbed my camera and binoculars and headed out the door, allowing Doran to sleep a little later. Many tropical species are known to rest upside down on the underside of large leaves. Like the gossamer-winged butterflies (which includes the elfins, blues, hairstreaks and coppers), they are small to medium in size unlike most lycaenids, they usually perch with their wings open or open at a slight angle. Once considered a subfamily within the gossamer-winged butterflies (Family Lycaenidae), the metalmarks are now grouped together in Family Riodinidae. Named for the brilliant metallic markings that decorate the wings of many of the species in the family, there is only one species in Canada, the endangered Mormon Metalmark whose range barely extends past the Canadian border in B.C. Metalmarks are not butterflies I have much experience with, as they are chiefly a tropical family. I had much better luck finding a variety of smaller and less spectacular species just checking the wild vegetation growing next to the dirt road on my walks, and was surprised to find one metalmark there along with several brushfoots and one blue species. The Rinconcito Lodge had many flowering hedges lining the edges of the walkways and pool area, although it seemed only the large yellow sulphurs were attracted to those blossoms. I was hoping to see some new butterflies this trip, and I wasn’t disappointed. ![]()
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