The Banded Peacock (Anartia fatima) is one of the most common butterflies in Costa Rica, and likes fluttering in sunny open areas like pastures and riverbanks. The males of the species are territorial, so if a Banded Peacock seems to be chasing you, it probably is. But not because it likes you!
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There are many species of Army Ants that thrive in Costa Rica, and I’m not sure which species it is that Nito picked out of a swarm on the rainforest floor. While guiding a hike from Serena to Carate, Nito wanted to show us the ants’ fierce pinchers. Getting bitten is not a risk I would have taken! Yet somehow Nita caught the insect, held it for a photo, and safely released it, without getting nipped.
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Sally Lightfoot Crabs (Graspus graspus) can be found on rocks at or above the spray line on both the Caribbean and Pacific shores of Costa Rica. This photograph was taken along the gorgeous stretch of rocky beach at the Corcovado National Park, Osa Peninsula.
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In rain forests all over Costa Rica, it’s not difficult to find Leafcutter Ants (Atta cephalotes) parading in a line, and carrying leaf pieces they’ve extracted from a tree. The vegetation is not eaten by the ants, but rather is used to fertilize a special fungus that only grows within the Leafcutter’s colony. Thus, this agrarian society of insects grows its own food!
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Mouthless Crabs (Gecarcinus quadratus) are sometimes called Jack-o-Lantern Crabs for the three orange spots that make a face-like pattern on the front of their shells. These colorful land crabs are found along the Pacific, usually at night, rummaging around in the sand and underbrush of the coastal forests. This one ventured out into the daylight to be photographed on the large root of a tree in the rainforest of Corcovado.
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The Green Page Moth (Urania fulgens), also called Green Urania, is commonly mistaken for a butterfly, but it is actually a diurnal moth. Every four to eight years there is a massive migration of these moths from the Osa Peninsula in the southwest, over the central plateau, to the Caribbean lowlands. This one was photographed on the Pacific side, in the Corcovado National Park.
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A patient Golden Orb-weaver waits for flies, moths, butterflies, or beetles, to be caught in its large web.
At around two-and-a-half inches including legs, female Golden Orb-weavers (Nephila clavipes) like this one are among the largest spiders in Costa Rica. Males of the species are only about one-quarter inch, legs and all. Golden Orb-weavers build their strong webs fairly low to the ground in open forests where there is enough sunlight to foster plenty of insects to eat.
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