Embedded Files
Above is a photo of Doug leading a field trip in SC. If you look closely, you will see a brown water snake sharing the log with him! The next photo is sn aerial view of Cozumel.
Mariposas de México, Quintana Roo, Cozumel
These photos are from my several trips to Cozumel. When I recently converted this field guide, by necessity, from old Google sites to the new one, some of the photographs were unaccountably lost. In the coming weeks, I'll try and replace the missing photos.
I found one species that is unlike any butterfly found in the literature, and may be a Cozumel endemic species. See Hairstreaks.
To make this guide more complete, a few species species have been linked from Flickr, Facebook, Neotropical Butterflies, Butterflies and Moths of North America, and other sites. There are now about 85 species confirmed for Cozumel and documented in this field guide. This probably includes virtually every species a short term visitor to Cozumel is likely to see. Corrections and additions appreciated!
This field guide presents photographs of all the butterflies you're likely to see when visiting the island of Cozumel. Cozumel is an island in the western Caribbean and is part of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It is about 30 miles long and 9 miles wide sitting only 12 miles from the Mexican mainland.
According to the Swift Guide to Mexican Butterflies by Jeffrey Glassberg, the first field guide to document with pictures and range maps all known butterflies of Mexico, there are about 1750 Mexican species of butterflies to be found, about 10% of the world's butterflies. Over 400 species appear, from the range maps, to occur in the Yucatan Peninsula. How many of those 400+ species occur on Cozumel?
I'd guess that maybe 90 butterfly species are permanent residents of Cozumel with many more accidental or even occasional visitors from the mainland. More intriguing is the possibility that endemic species and Caribbean species occur on Cozumel that do not occur on the nearby mainland. There are 4 well known avian endemics on Cozumel, one probably extinct, and additional Caribbean bird species that are seldom found on the mainland.
After several butterflying trips to the Cancun/Playa Carmen corridor of Quintana Roo, I began to wonder about Cozumel species. In spring 2014, I searched the internet for information about Cozumel butterfly species. I emailed several entomologists at the University of Florida and elsewhere for information about same. No one seemed to know. In July of 2014. I contacted Sherri Davis who lives on the island, and had developed a butterfly garden, Patas & Allas Buttery Sanctuary, no longer in operation. Neither she nor anyone else I have contacted or spoken to is aware of extensive field studies on the island.
I could easily have missed finding Cozumel butterfly information especially if written in Spanish. Please leave a comment with any information or leads. I will be returning to Cozumel the third time in a little over a year this autumn.
This field guide is based on the organization and page numbers in the Swift Guide to Mexican Butterflies. To go to a butterfly family or subgroup click a link in the navigation bar to the left. Click on any photograph to enlarge it.
I found about 45 species of butterflies on Cozumel during 3 days early August, 2014 and an additional 15 species during 3 days on Cozumel in early March, 2015. An additional 20 species were found the week of Dec 3-10, 2016, and the Cozumel list presently stands at about 85 species. All of them shown herein. I have also researched and included all the Cozumel records from Butterflies and Moths of North America and Butterflies of America. If you find any additional species or if you find Monarchs on any visit to Cozumel, please give us information in the Comments below.
For easy comparison of Cozumel species with those on the mainland and elsewhere, I include photographs of both Cozumel species and a few photographed elsewhere in Quintana Roo, Texas, or Florida. Click on any of the photos to enlarge them. I'm indicating tentative or possible possible "Cozumel forms." Eventually, only collection and examination will determine if there are Cozumel endemic species, but I think the Cozumel Golden Hairstreak is likely, and endemic Eurema species and Scintillant Metalmarks are possible.
COZUMEL IDENTIFIED SPECIES IN RED.
HYPOTHETICAL COZUMEL SPECIES IN BLACK.
CLICK ANY LINK AT BOTTOM OF PAGES.
Note: This is the order of families from Glassberg's Butterflies of Mexico with page number references.
MOST SPECIES INDICATE ABUNDANCE WHEN BUTTERFLYING IN THE CORRECT HABITAT: ABUNDANT= MANY, COMMON= SEVERAL, FAIRLY COMMON= NOT ALWAYS ENCOUNTERED, AND UNCOMMON= SELDOM SEEN.
HERE ARE SOME UNIDENTIFIED COZUMEL BUTTERFLIES,-- LINK1
For the companion Yucatan Peninsula field guide click HERE
Page numbers refer to Swift Guide to Mexican Butterflies by Jeffrey Glassberg.
Abreviations are QR= Quintana Roo; JB= Jardin Botanico; COZ=Cozumel; LRGV= Lower Rio Grande Valley; SF = south Florida
GO TO COZUMEL BUTTERFLY FAMILIES ABOVE
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse