From July 16th to July 31st I searched for individuals of Chlosyne lacinia at the Los Tuxtlas Biological station. I found none but I did see other things and thoroughly enjoyed my first rainforest experience. The photo below was taken at the top of the mountain at the station where you can see the gulf of Mexico and surrounding pasture land (where I found most of my Chlosyne janais individuals). This point is actually called "La Ventana" or "The Window" because it's one of the few places within the forest where you can see something other than trees.
I found several individuals of Chlosyne janais in surrounding roadsides. Because I couldn't locate C. lacinia I subsequently did some research on these little guys.
The only other Chlosyne species I found was Chlosyne theona.
While photographing this female, a male Phyciodes tharos (another checkerspot!) began to pester her while she tried to nectar on the flowers.
Along with the other Chlosyne on the roadsides were a couple other checkerspots and crescents within the Melitaeinae including Castilia myia.
There were lots of other cool butterflies within the forest and I managed to photograph a few. From left to right Heliconius charitonius, Dryas julia, and Heliconius erato. Notice that all are nectaring on the same type of plant, Gurania. These butterflies are within the subfamily Heliconiinae which are also known as the passion flower butterflies because as larvae they all feed on passion vines (Passifloraceae).
I found this bizarre little guy (Arcas cypria) in the forest. Unlike the other butterflies here (Nymphalidae) this butterfly belongs to the family Lycaenidae.
Two other uniquely tropical species I encountered were Caligo uranus (left) and Hamadryas februa (right). The Caligo species belong to a family of butterflies called the "owl butterflies" thanks to the large eyespots on the underside of their wings while the Hamadryas are called "crackers" thanks to a crackling sound the males make with their wings.
Butterflies of course weren't the only things around to keep me company. Howler Monkeys loved to start yelling at 4am and make sure I didn't get a full night of sleep.
