A BANDED PEACOCK,
AND HOW I IDENTIFIED IT
On the torrid afternoon when I took the above
frogfruit picture, not only was the frogfruit tangle teeming with tiny toads but also a
certain species of familiar-looking butterfly was visiting frogfruit flowers en masse, as
shown below:
That butterfly is the Banded Peacock, ANARTIA FATIMA, distributed from southern Texas
to Panama. It's found very commonly in disturbed habitats, at forest edges and along the
banks of natural watercourses -- "riparian" habitats like where I saw it. Even
though the adults live only for two to four weeks, the species is so prolific that it's
seen throughout the year.
The reason I said the Banded Peacock was familiar looking is that the species belongs
to the same butterfly family and subfamily as the Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Common
Buckeye and several other similar-looking butterflies often seen in my US haunts.
Since no "Fieldguide to Mexican Butterflies" exists and I don't claim to be a
lepidopterist, how did I identify this Banded Peacock?
Because it was so similar to those North American species mentioned above I went to the
Mariposas Mexicanas website (the word "mariposa" is Spanish for
"butterfly") at http://www.mariposasmexicanas.com/
clicked on the Subfamily Nymphalinae of the family Nymphaldae, to which
all the above-mentioned species belong, then simply compared pictures until I had a decent
match. That website is the closest thing we have to a "Fieldguide to Mexican
Butterflies."
Once I had a name I confirmed the identification by looking it up on the newly
reconstituted "Butterflies and Moths of North America" website at http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/
This latter site provides wonderful distribution maps, and you can even call up maps
for Mexico. However, it seems to feature only those Mexican species whose distributions
extend into the US -- such as our Banded Peacock. (My mystery butterfly of last week
remains a mystery, but I thank all those who made an effort.)
What a very powerful tool for naturalists the Internet has become, especially for those
of us in parts of the world where printed fieldguides are nonexistent. |