In January I accompanied my friend Celia to her family's place in Aguilares, El Salvador (a small town just north of San Salvador). While I was hoping to find Chlosyne there my main purpose was to accustom myself both to Latin American culture and the local butterfly fauna. I feel I succeeded in both though I found no Chlosyne. Most of the mark-release I did was in the backyard of a house in Aguilares but some butterflies were caught at a ranch not far from the town center.
Below is one of my favorites, Anthanassa tulcis. While it's not exactly the prettiest butterfly, it is a checkerspot (that is, within the tribe Melitaeini) and fairly closely related to Chlosyne.
Several pierid butterflies were captured there as well including Phoebis agrante, Phoebis sennae, Phoebis philea, and Eurema species. Pictured below is P. agrante.
Dynamine mylitta was one of the more unique specimens I captured.
The town is surrounded by pasture and other rural landscapes. Along the riparian zones in these areas I found Siprotea stelenes, Heliconius charitonius, Morpho peleides, and Dryadula phaetusa (pictured below) among others.
While the butterflies were very cool, the landscape could certainly hold its own. The following was taken shortly before sunset on one of the ranches.
