Lepidigi
Butterflies of Europe and the Tropics
ANTIGUA, January 2016
Around Blue Waters, north coast, in search of some winter sunshine
Page added 19 January 2016
ANTIGUA, a non-butterflying trip in January 2016
Great Southern White. This is a very common butterfly on the island, highly active during the sunshine hours and then roosting collectively often on grasses and low shrubs. Note the pale blue tips to the antennae.
Roosting group, low down in fine grasses
Another roosting group, this time on a shrub in grassland
Great Southern Whites, mating pair, the male being the yellow coloured individual
Female
Female
Male. The male undersides are quite variable, initially causing me to think that I was looking at two species of 'whites'
Another male, this one having no darker markings on the hindwing underside
Male, photographed as dusk was falling
Another dusk male
Male
Little Yellow, male
Little Yellow, female, paler than the male
Banded Yellow
Banded Yellow, female
Banded Yellow
Cloudless Sulphur, female. This is a very fast-flying species that rarely seems to stop. But when it does it often instantly selects a similarly coloured leaf to itself and disappears
Miami Blue, male, resting on an acacia shrub shoot. This is a delightful little butterfly as can be seen from the following five photos. Common on Antigua it is now a threatened species in its home state of Florida
Miami Blue
Miami Blue
Miami Blue
Miami Blue, female
Miami Blue
Cassius Blue
Scrub Hairstreak (with a very unfortunate and undeserved sub-species name)
Scrub Hairstreak
Gulf Fritillary
Gulf Fritillary
Gulf Fritillary, showing the superbly marked silver-spotted underside, very similar to the Queen of Spain Fritillary found in Europe
White Peacock
White Peacock
Tropical Buckeye, a common and beautiful species
Tropical Buckeye
Tropical Buckeye
Tropical Buckeye. Note the pronounced 'eye' markings on the hindwing, one of the key identification tips for this species
Fiery Skipper
Purple-washed Skipper. This is a fast-flying, small butterfly, incredibly hard to follow in flight as it dashes from flower to flower, hardly landing before zooming off again. (At least that's my excuse for this slightly out-of-focus shot!)
Purple-washed Skipper. The purple-wash is revealed when the butterfly is photographed using flash
Tropical Checkered Skipper (apologies for the American spelling of 'Chequered'!)
Tropical Checkered Skipper