John Christensen

Butterflies of Eastern Ecuador & Peru: Volume 2 Continuing work on this pioneering field guide to tropical South American butterflies.

Four days left to support Dave Geale's Butterflies of Eastern Ecuador & Peru: Volume 2.

This volume will have the "best" butterflies, including Riodinidae, Lycaenidae & Hesperiidae!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/dgb...

A small Guatemalan Copper (Iophanus pyrrhias) butterfly sitting on a leaf.

Guatemalan Copper (Iophanus pyrrhias). We were excited to get close views of this butterfly! La Paz Department, Honduras. March 2025

Awesome new paper by @lucalivraghi.bsky.social et al.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
in @currentbiology.bsky.social
on the evo-devo of a butterfly color variation

enjoy the show!

That's a real beauty!

<taps on the movie marquee>

It’s right there in the title, son

Jelly mass attached to leaf containing tadpoles

Granular Glass Frog (Cochranella granulosa) tadpoles developing inside a gelatinous mass. This leaf was about 7 feet above a small creek. Panama. January 2025

A+ indeed! The one I saw there was a B- unfortunately, but still amazing.

Wow, that's an amazing katydid. I always bring a UV light on trips but never thought to fluoresce one!

A red-and-black tortoise beetle on a blade of grass.

Eugenysa coscaroni. A tortoise beetle, but looks more like a smiling strawberry to me. Panama. January 2025

Pit piercing. It’s what all the cool vipers are doing these days.

David on Goliath.
Geometer moth Tricentra euriopis on silkmoth Rhescyntis hippodamia. Panama. January 2025.

Send in the clowns. That's how I'm feeling today.
Two Arctiinae moths, Idalus perlineosa and Phaeomolis lineatus. Panamá Province, Panama. January 2025

Sky-blue Hairstreak (Pseudolycaena damo) nectaring on small white flowers. Coclé Province, Panama.

The Sky-blue Hairstreak (Pseudolycaena damo). Such a stunning butterfly! Coclé Province, Panama. January 2025.

Metalmark butterfly Hypophylla zeurippa resting under a leaf. Panama.

Began 2025 in beautiful Panama. Metalmark butterflies can be hard to photograph because they often land on the underside of leaves. This one cooperated amazingly well as I leaned in to get a viewing angle.
Hypophylla zeurippa. Coclé Province, Panama. January 2025

Mary Tyler Moore starred in Mary, the ill fated variety show/sitcom that lasted three episodes.

The show did introduce us however to castmates Michael Keaton and David Letterman.

The Brown Wasp Mantidfly (Climaciella brunnea) is a convincing wasp mimic that sits on flower heads awaiting prey. The bottom left shows one eating a plume moth. The bottom right includes my thumb for scale. They are tiny and easy to miss.
#MantidflyAppreciationDay

Mantidflies sometimes show up at moth sheets and enjoy the insect smorgasbord. Top left is Beautiful Mantidfly (Leptomantispa pulchella) and bottom left is genus Plega.
#MantidflyAppreciationDay

Photo collage of four mantidfly species sitting on leaves and flowers.

Mantidflies are amazing little predatory insects. Here we have four species common in the US: Brown Wasp Mantidfly (Climaciella brunnea), Green Mantidfly (Zeugomantispa minuta), Say's Mantidfly (Dicromantispa sayi), and Four-spotted Mantidfly (Dicromantispa interrupta).
#MantidflyAppreciationDay

Anteros gentilis Anteros gentilis from 08145, Perú on October 29, 2024 at 01:12 PM by Miguel Lezama Ninancuro

You probably saw this exciting Anteros sighting on iNat, but I can't stop looking at it. Observation by Miguel Lezama Ninancuro on the upper Manu Rd. www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Every Anteros sighting is a good one!

Gorgeous photo from the subject to the alignment!

Someone's sure got his hackles up!

Go Blue!

Papilio euterpinus. The ventral is mostly black but camera flash add some color. Dorsal has a splashy stripe. Napo. Ecuador. #BlackFriday

Thankful for the Lions!

I'd love to be added also. I focus on macrophotography of butterflies, moths, tiger beetles, and other inverts.

Two brown female Mithras nautes hairstreaks and two blue males.

A spectacular hairstreak, Mithras nautes. I hoped to finally see one and ended up seeing seven on the trip! Females brown and males blue. Madre de Dios, Peru. August 2023

If by "best" you mean "grating" I'm right there with you.

Salvaged? Shouldn't it be doe-nated?

Four photos of Callophrys hairstreaks.

Sorry... probably overstaying my welcome on this topic. Callophrys potpourri!
Hessel's Hairstreak (Callophrys hesseli) from NJ.
Desert Elfin (Callophrys fotis) from UT.
Bog Elfin (Callophrys lanoraieensis) from Ontario.
Lotus Hairstreak Callophrys dumetorum from OR.