8. Aphrissa statira (family Pieridae)

Early in the rainy season the butterflies of Aphrissa statira migrate from the west to east of Costa Rica, from the dry forest lowlands to rain forest lowlands across the volcanoes, in a bright stream of bouncy fliers.  (And much later their grandchildren quietly fly back again in a much less conspicuous manner.)  So far caterpillars have been found only on the western dry side in the lowlands.  However the database shows a distinct peak collected at 675 m high on the rain forested eastern side of the ACG.  This isn't a mistake, but they're not caterpillars either.  One day a pair of parataxonomists went out with butterfly nets and collected a batch of adults migrating over the volcano foothills.

The full Fusion Table for these butterflies is here, but this is a poor substitute for standing in the midst of a live migration.






This page is a complement to http://www.ontariogenomics.ca/outreach/BOLD8