Chagres Skipper - First time found in Costa Rica

On May 06, 2012, we made an interesting discovery at Las Brisas. Ernesto Carman, Erick Berlin and Ela Villanueva noticed a butterfly flitting about rapidly in the understory, posing for only seconds at a time on the leaves of certain Calatheas. It was a species they had never seen before. Ernesto was able to get a couple record photographs, but the insect's behavior did not allow for better ones. All we knew was that it was a Skipper (Hesperiidae), so we sent the photos to our friend Ichiro Nakamura who has studied butterflies at Las Brisas, for a more precise identification. Several days later Ichiro had news for us: Apparently this butterfly was the Chagres Skipper (Vettius chagres), and if so, it would be the very first time this species was found in Costa Rica.

Amazing news!

#butterflies