Blue Doctor Butterfly

Pic for today: Blue Doctor Butterfly

We were on our way back from a hike in the secondary rainforest at La Selva Biological Station in the Sarapiqui River Valley of the Caribbean lowlands in Costa Rica when this amazing butterfly flitted across the path in front of us. We immediately started calling for John, the bug guy in our group, to come running and get a picture of it. It was like nothing either I, or John, had ever seen before…well, it was a bit like a swallowtail, but I had certainly never seen anything with this color pattern. It took a bit of searching when I got home, but I tracked it down as a metalmark, the Blue Doctor, Rhetus periander, one of three similar Rhetus species in Central and South America. Some authorities have it ranging from Mexico to Peru, some limit its range in the north to Costa Rica. It is generally listed as “common” in its range, but elusive. Amazing bug! Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode. Processed in Polarr. 

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