Subject: Costa Rica butterfly
Location: Platanillo, Costa Rica
May 17, 2012 1:43 pm
What would this little beauty be? Taken today from my casa in Platanillo…orange and black with lovely blue markings on her lower wings.
Signature: Paula

Blue Spotted Firewing

Dear Paula,
This is a truly gorgeous butterfly.  We knew the family to be Nymphalidae and we searched for Costa Rican species and found a visual match identified as Catonephele numilia on the Le Jardinoscope website.  Armed with a name, we located a Blue Spotted Firewing on the Learn About Butterflies website where we learned:  “The genus Catonephele contains 11 species, with wingspans of circa 65-80mm. The males are dark brown on the upperside with dazzling reflective orange patches which vary in size and shape from species to species. Females are entirely different in appearance. In most species they have dark brown wings marked with linear rows of cream spots. The female of numilia however has a large cream patch in the median area of the forewing, and has the basal and submarginal areas of the hindwings deep red. Both sexes of all species have cryptic undersides in shades of brown.  Catonephele numilia occurs from Mexico to Peru.”  We also learned:  “The butterflies are usually encountered singly. Males perch on tree trunks and rock faces, often in a head-downwards posture. They also bask on foliage or on fallen branches in light gaps, often less than a metre above ground level, and are reminiscent in behaviour of Nessaea. Males often imbibe mineral-rich moisture from damp earth along forest tracks and roads. If alarmed they fly up and spend a few moments circling cautiously, but soon resettle close to their original position.  Females are scarcer, and usually seen when searching for oviposition sites along forest trails. They can occasionally be seen basking on sunlit paths.”

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