"If I discover within myself a desire which no experience of this world can satisfy,

the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

    Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963)

    Anglican philosopher and novelist

Machaonides swallowtail, Heraclides machaonides. Bonao, central Dominican Republic, Hispaniola.

The Swarming Hordes

CLASS INSECTA: INSECTS

    When I was a boy, biologists had calculated that the grand total of organic species - plant and animal - on Earth was about one million. More recent studies have given us a better understanding of the actual number of life-forms on our planet. Especially since new techniques have allowed ecologists and taxonomists to have a better access to one of the last biological frontiers, the rain forest's canopy, it is now believed that the number of living species of insects alone is between four and 30 million. Although these estimates are far from certain, and even assuming only four million species of insects, add to that the number of parasites - bacterial, protozoan, fungal, nematodan, acarine, and many of which are highly host-specific - that plague those same insects, and then the hyperparasites that the infest the parasites, and that will give us an ever better glimpse of the staggering biological diversity on Earth. (In fact, a very large percentage of the species on the planet are parasites of other organisms).

    In any case, and simply put, there are more species of insects on this planet than all others combined.

    Insects are considered a class (Insecta) within the subphylum Hexapoda ("six-legged"), together with the classes Diplura, Protura, and Collembolla. Insects are usually the most abundant macroscopic animals in all terrestrial ecosystems. They are also present, whether as eggs, larvae, or adults, in practically every freshwater environment though, interestingly, only a very few species are marine, and even those live only in coastal areas and are never pelagic (none lives in the open ocean). None are totally aquatic throughout their lives, since all adult insects need to breathe gaseous oxygen, even those that do spend their adult lives in water.

Larva of Puerto Rican rhinoceros beetle, Strategus quadrifoveatus, showing on its sides the spiracles leading to its tracheae. All insects need to breathe gaseous oxygen, at least as adults.

Fort Buchanan, Guaynabo, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

    In turn, Insecta is divided into three subclasses. Two of these, Archaeognatha (bristletails) and Thysanura (silverfish) are the most primitive of all insects, and are seldom-seen denizens of damp, dark places. The remaining subclass, Pterygota, contains all the other species. These are the "winged insects", including forms that have secondarily lost their wings and capacity for flight.

    Although the relationships of insects are obscure, they seem to be most closely related to crustaceans than to any other group of living arthropods. Perhaps arising during the Devonian Period, they really exploded in terms of numbers of individuals and species later, coming into their own during the Carboniferous.

    Some insects rely on color to advertise themselves to others of their kind or to other types of animals. Also, aposematic combinations of black, red, orange, and yellow are widely recognized in the animal kingdom as a warning meaning "you better not eat me/not bother me - I taste awful/I am dangerous." (The blacks, reds, and yellows of many wasps and bees are well-known examples of this phenomenon).

    Other insects depend on camouflage to blend with their surroundings, imitating the colors and shapes of the substrate on which they live. Some have carried this to such extremes that they are practically indistinguishable from twigs, lichens, or even flowers.

    Alone among invertebrates, insects developed the capacity for true flight and where the first organisms in the history of Earth to take to the air, possibly in the early Carboniferous Period. Some orders, like the primitive Thysanura (silverfish) have no wings, while most insects have two pairs of wings. In the case of dipterans (flies and allies) only two wings are functional for flight, while the other two has been modified as instruments for balance. Certain groups, like some walking sticks and the worker and soldiers classes of ant and termite colonies, have secondarily lost their wings altogether, having evolved from winged ancestors. A few extinct groups of insects had three pairs of functional wings, but this trait was lost early in favor of only four wings.

    The wings of insects evolved from appendages that possibly had at first the appearance of legs. Unlike the wings of birds, bats, and pterosaurs, those of insects have no muscle and are mostly rigid. The animal flies by beating and rotating them with the use of muscles that alter the shaped of the bodily wall, thus bringing movement to the wings.

    Some small insects, like midges and mosquitoes, can beat their wings tens of thousands of times per second. Many larger ones, like butterflies and dragonflies, beat them at a comparatively much more leisurely rate, and can glide of them when unhurried.

Order Blattodea: Cockroaches

    Cockroaches are usually associated with dirt and germs, but in reality most species live far away from human habitations, in forests, grasslands, and even caverns. Many species are omnivorous, eating whatever they can find (which is part of the reason why a number of species feel so comfortable in your kitchen and pantry).

    In spite of great morphological differences among them, this order of insects is actually closely related to three others: crickets and grasshoppers, mantids, and walking sticks. More distantly, they are also kin to the termites.

Order Coleoptera: Beetles

    Beetles comprise the largest group of insects, indeed the single largest order of things living. They can be herbivores, predators, or carrion eaters, and comprise an important role in the terrestrial ecosystems of the world, for their great abundance and variety of species.

    Their first pair of wings is highly chitinous and are no really used from flight. The second pair, which during rest is folded under the first, is the one used for that purpose.

Cerambycid beetle, species undetermined. Camp Santiago, Salinas, south-eastern Puerto Rico.

Cerambycid beetle, Stenodontes maxillosus. Saint Bartholomew, Lesser Antilles.

(Photograph courtesy of Mr. Karl Questel).

Cerambycid beetle, probably Stenodontes sp. Susua State Forest, south-western Puerto Rico.

Cerambycid beetle, Solenoptera thomae, female. Susua State Forest, south-western Puerto Rico.

Cerambycid beetle, Lagochirus araneiformis. Barrenspot, central Saint Croix, United States Virgin Islands.

Cerambycid beetle, Plinthocoelium domingoensis. Del Este National Park, eastern Dominican Republic, Hispaniola.

(Photograph courtesy of Mr. Piero Fariselli).

Cerambycid beetle, Eburia quadrimaculata. Guana Island, British Virgin Islands.

Cerambycid beetle, species undetermined, resting on a stem. San Juan Botanical Garden, San Juan, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

Firefly, probably Photinus sp. Toro Negro State Forest, central Puerto Rico.

Firefly, Photuris jamaicensis. Windsor, north-central Jamaica.

Some elaterids have bioluminescent organs, frequently paired and on top of the thorax, as can be seen in this individual.

These emit a green light at night or when the animal feels threatened.

Members of this group are frequently called "click beetles" because they can cock and then suddenly release a hinge between

their thoraxes and abdomens. An individual placed on its back can thus jump in the air several inches, until it falls on its legs, once a gain.

This is Pyrophorus luminosus. Carite State Forest, east-central Puerto Rico.

Chrysomelid beetles, probably Altica occidentalis, feeding on leaves.

Guanica State Forest, south-western Puerto Rico.

Members of this and related genera often are tiny creatures, thus frequently called flea beetles.

Chrysomelid beetles, probably Altica occidentalis, feeding on leaves.

El Yunque National Forest, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

Tortoise beetles (family Chrysomelidae), possibly Charidotella sp., male (dull orange and black) and females (iridescent purple and greenish yellow).

Camp Santiago, Salinas, south-eastern Puerto Rico.

Chrysomelids are frequently called "tortoise beetles" for their general shapes.

The overhanging shape of the thorax and elytra of Charidotella sp. allow them

to fit closely against their substrate as protection against attackers like ants and similar insects.

Camp Santiago, Salinas, south-eastern Puerto Rico.

Scarabeid beetle, species undetermined. Eggleston, south-central Dominica, Lesser Antilles.

Scarabeid beetle, species undetermined. Guilarte State Forest, central Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rican rhinoceros beetles, Strategus quadrifoveatus, larva, male (two center photographs), and female. Fort Buchanan, Guaynabo, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rican May beetle, Phyllophaga portoricensis. El Yunque National Forest, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

May beetle, Phyllophaga sp. Carolina, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

Tiger beetles (family Cicindelidae), Cicindela boops. Guanica State Forest, south-western Puerto Rico.

Carabid beetle, Galerita sp. beetle. Negril, western Jamaica.

Tenebrionid beetle larva, species undetermined. Guilarte State Forest, west-central Puerto Rico.

Tenebrionid beetles, probably Tenebrio sp. Barrenspot, Central Saint Croix, United States Virgin Islands.

Weevil, Diaprepes abbreviatus. Charlotte Amalie, southern Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands.

This animal is found in the insular banks of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and some of the Lesser Antilles.

More than 65000 species of weevils are known, and surely many more await discovery, possibly a quarter of a million.

They are the largest family (Curculionidae) of the largest order (Coleoptera) of the largest class (Insecta)

of the largest superclass (Hexapoda) of the largest phylum (Arthropoda) of the largest kingdom (Metazoa) of biological organisms.

Another morph of Diaprepes abbreviatus. El Yunque National Forest, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

As with some other beetles, and in a manner similar to butterflies, the color patters of these weevils is derived

from a thousands of microscopic scales that cover their elytra. The dark lines are actually places where the scales

fall off, and show the underlying color of the animal. This species is a pest of several crops, and has caused great

economic losses in places like Florida, United States, where it has been introduced.

A weevil, Diaprepes maugei, hitches a ride atop a walking stick, Lamponius sp. Toro Negro State Forest, central Puerto Rico.

Weevil, possibly Diaprepes glaucus. Toro Negro State Forest, central Puerto Rico.

A Diaprepes weevil spreads its wings upon take off. Port Antonio, north-eastern Jamaica.

Weevil, Exophthalmus quindecimpunctatus. Cambalache State Forest, north-central Puerto Rico.

(Photograph courtesy of Dr. Luis O. Nieves).

Weevil, probably Polydrusus sp. Rio Grande, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

Weevil, species undetermibed. Soufriere Botanical Gardens, south-eastern Saint Lucia, Lesser Antilles.

Twig-mimicking weevil, possibly Brentus sp. Eggleston, south-central Dominica, Lesser Antilles.

Order Dermaptera: Earwigs

    These peculiar insects, often called earwigs, have a pair of forceps on the end of their abdomens, somewhat like a crab's pincers. They feed on dead vegetable matter and carrion, and some species can be quite large for a member of their class. The forceps are used in copulation and as a defensive apparatus, capable of inflicting surprising but otherwise harmless pinch.

Earwig, possibly Euborellia caraibea. Guilarte State Forest, west-central Puerto Rico.

Order Diptera: Flies, Mosquitoes, and Their Kin

    Flies and their kin have only two functional wings. The second pair has been modified as balancing organs used to keep the right orientation during flight.

    Although flies are not usually considered to be predators, some are, indeed. Asilids (widely known as "robber flies") for example, have evolved to prey on other insects. Their proboscii (basically the same structures as those of blood-sucking mosquitoes) are inserted into the bodies of their hapless victims in order to suck their fluids. Large individuals can inflict a nasty prick on a human finger, as well.

    Most dipterans, however, feed on vegetable matter or carrion, while mosquitoes are well-known for being parasites of vertebrates. Some of the latter are vectors of important, and sometimes deadly, diseases like malaria, and hemorrhagic fevers like dengue.

Robber fly (family Asilidae), Proctacanthus sp., male. Enriquillo National Park, south-western Dominican Republic, Hispaniola.

Robber flies, Efferia sp., male, and female. Guanica State Forest, south-western Puerto Rico.

Robber fly, Ommatius marginellus, male. Caja de Muerto Nature Reserve, off southern Puerto Rico.

Robber fly, female, species undetermined. Soufriere Botanical Gardens, souther-eastern Saint Lucia, Lesser Antilles.

Micropezid flies, Taeniaptera lasciva, females. Aguas Buenas, east-central Puerto Rico.

Members of this family often mimic wasps or ants. Their forelegs are usually shortest and possess white tips.

Mating pair of flower flies, Meromacrus cintus. El Yunque National Forest, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

These and other species of dipterans earn some protection from predators by mimicking wasps and bees.

Flower flies, Palpada vinetorum. Pinones State Forest, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

Carrion fly, Phaenicia sp., (family Calliphoridae), male feeding on nectar. Aguas Buenas, east-central Puerto Rico.

Deerfly (family Tabanidae, subfamily Crysopsinae), Chrysops variegata, feeding on my blood.

Camuy, north-western Puerto Rico.

Soldier fly (Family Stratiomyidae), possibly Hedridiscus sp. Loiza, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

Mosquito, species undetermined.

Camp Santiago, Salinas, south-eastern Puerto Rico.

An adult midge has just emerged from its pupa, its as yet transparent body not hard enough for flight.

Species undetermined. El Yunque National Forest, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

Crane fly (family Tipulidae), species undetermined.

El Yunque National Forest, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

Mating pair of crane flies (family Tipulidae), species undetermined.

El Yunque National Forest, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

Mosquitoes do not always feed on the blood of mammals and birds. They will also feed off reptiles,

like this one does as it sucks the blood of a sleeping juvenile female Puerto Rican giant anole, Anolis cuvieri.

Mata de Platano Field Station, Arecibo, northern Puerto Rico.

Some parasitic flies have developed bizarre lifestyles. The two "ticks" on the abdomen of this

tettigonid grasshopper are actually ceratopogonid midges, feeding on the hemolymph of their host.

Bahoruco Mountains, south-western Dominican Republic, Hispaniola.

Some flies are endoparasites (they live inside the tissues of living hosts).

These are the maggots of the bot fly Philornis pici. (family Cuterebridae). They have developed under

the skin of some birds, in this case a fledging Puerto Rican woodpecker (Melanerpes portoricensis).

The bird has died after more than 15, two centimeter-long maggots have consumed much the muscle tissues of the live bird.

Once their host is dead, the larvae leave it to pupate on the ground.

Order Hemiptera: Bugs, Cicadas, Planthoppers, and Their Kin

    Bugs and their allies have piercing mouth parts used to suck fluids of their prey or pf plants. Some species are important vectors of both animal and plant diseases. Among these last are the reduviid bugs that are the vectors of the trypanosome protozoans that cause the dreaded Leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and sleeping sickness. Others are serious agricultural pest, and a number of them are predators of other insects.

    While most species are terrestrial, members of several families are aquatic, yet retaining the capacity for flight if local conditions become inadequate for survival. Some of these are the giant water bugs, backswimmers, water skaters, and water "scorpions".

    Cicadas, leafhoppers, and related species also have piercing mouthparts, and feed on the sap of diverse plants. The pre-adult stages of cicadas are subterranean, and feed on plants' roots. Adult males produce strident calls with their elytra, in order to attract mates.

Order Hymenoptera: Wasps, Ants, and Bees

    These insects are mostly social, though many species are solitary. Examples of these are the most primitive among them, the suborder Symphita: the "sawflies". The larvae of these insects are free-living, are herbivores, and resemble caterpillars - indeed very similar to those of their distant relatives, the butterflies and moths. Females do not possess stingers, and adults can be both herbivores or predators of other insects.

Puerto Rican Krug's sawfly, Sericocera krugii. Eggs, larvae, and adult male. San Juan, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

Notice the similarity of the larvae with those of a lepidopteran caterpillar.

    More advanced hymenopterans possess a unique defensive and offensive apparatus, their stinger, which is actually a modified ovipositor, or egg-laying organ, attached to a venom gland located in the abdomen. Depending on the species, the sting's potency may be hardly noticeable, or might produce an excruciating and incapacitating pain.

    Having "invented" paper eons ago, many wasps make their free-hanging nests on the underside of boughs, leaves, and rocky ledges. In them they raise their larvae with a regurgitated pulp made out of insect and spider prey. Two genera are common, Polistes and the very similar Mischocyttarus, this last different from the former in having a long-petioled abdomen. Anyone who spends some time walking along a trail in most West Indian forests will eventually come face to face with a paper-wasp nest. That same person will know that the insects often take serious exception to an intrusion in their space. Being stung simultaneously by several individuals of the larger species is a perfect way to ruin a pleasant stroll.

    Some wasps and bees are solitary. The females build their nests underground or in dead wood, where they raise their larvae by feeding them insect or spider  prey (in the case of wasps) or honey (in the case of bees). Among Caribbean solitary wasps, tarantula hawks of the genus Pepsis are notorious for their large size and strikingly metallic colors. They are ferocious hunters of tarantulas and other large spiders, and show great ability in keeping just out of reach of their preys' deadly fangs. After harassing their victims until they are tired they sting them on their undersides. The paralyzed - but still living - spiders are placed in an underground chamber and a single egg is deposited on them. The larva hatches and then feeds to adulthood on the spider, which is being eaten from the inside out until only a hollow husk is left.

    Solitary bees in the region include the bumblebees of the genus Xylocopa. These last are frequently called "carpenter bees" for their habit of hollowing out nests in dead snags, where they build their nests. The mother accumulates a portion of pollen and honey in the grub's chamber, and then seals it off with a mixture of chewed wood and salive. Once it has metamorphosized, the new adult breaks open its imprisonment and leaves. The sexes of the common Antillean species are strikingly different in appearance. Females are jet black, while the rare and seldom seen males are rusty orange in color.

    The several families of ants comprise an early evolutionary offshoot of the wasp lineage. Some are herbivores, while others are omnivores or predators of other organisms. Like wasps, ants usually carry a sting, and most species live in colonies where individuals belong to one or another class of queen, drones, and sterile female workers and soldiers.

    Solenopsis fire ants are found in open, relatively dry microhabitats in mesic areas of the Antilles. Their name derives from the burning sensation caused by their stings and the reddish hues of most species. The sting of a single fire ant is by no means a major affair except for a hypersensitive or allergic person. The individual animals are very small, to begin with, and the amount of their venom is minute, as well. However, disturbing a fire ants' nest may mean courting disaster, since as many as hundreds of thousands of angry insects swarm over everything in their path, seeking the cause of their irritation. If the intruder is a small animal, it may easily be stung to death.

    Other West Indian species of ants, like the much larger, long-bodied and spindly-legged ponerines of the genus Odontomachus, establish their rather small colonies under rocks and downed, rotting trees. They are much less aggressive than fire ants but will attack when hard-pressed, biting down with their long, pincer-like jaws and then stinging painfully.

Order Isoptera: Termites

    Termites are distant relatives of cockroaches which have adapted to digest cellulose (the main component of wood) with the help of protozoan symbiotes living in their guts. In terms of individuals, they are among the most abundant of terrestrial arthropods. Trillions of them live in Antillean forests, recycling dead wood and making it available again for use by other living organisms.

Nest of termites, Nasutitermes costalis. Mary Point, Virgin Islands National Park, Saint John, United States Virgin Islands.

The one on the left has been abandoned and is in a state of decay.
Termites are among the best known "social" insects on Earth, after hymetopterans (wasps, bees, and ants).
Distant relatives of cockroaches, their capability to digest cellulose, (with the help of protozoan symbionts that live in their guts)
places these insects among some of the most influential organisms in tropical forests' food chains,

by allowing them to digest enormous quantities of otherwise unusable organic matter. Only fungi,
as a whole, are more important on regards to the use of dead tissue in Earth's terrestrial ecosystems.

Nasutitermes costalis. Lajas, south-western Puerto Rico.

Soldiers of Nasutitermes have pointy heads. Indeed, the generic name translates to "termite with a nose".

From the tip of their "noses" they squirt a sticky, irritating fluid used in the defense of their colonies.

The galleries of Nasutitermes termites, made of wood pulp mixed with saliva, extend far away from their colonies.

These passages are used to travel under cover to and from sources of dead wood, like this dead tree stump.

Mary Point, Virgin Islands National Park, Saint John, United States Virgin Islands.

    Termites are social insects, and their groups, in a manner similar to wasps, and and bees, center around a queen, which is the only fertile female in the colony. The colonies of some species are the largest of any social insects, and sometimes contain millions of individuals.

Order Lepidoptera: Butterflies and Moths

    This is the second largest order of insects, after Coleoptera (beetles). Each wing is covered by thousands to millions of microscopic scales that fit together among themselves like shingles on a roof. Each scale is of a single color but, to the naked human eye, the juxtaposition of the scales of different colors forms the overall pattern of the animals wings in the same way in which a mosaic is seen, as a whole. It is this trait which gives them its name, from the greek "lepido-pteron": "scaly wings".

    Their taxonomy is quite complex and about 126 families are known to date. Butterflies are grouped into two large superfamilies. Herperiodea contains the skippers and their allies, while all other (and the majority) of butterflies are placed in the Papilionoidea. Moths of the other hand, are far more abundant in terms of species, and are placed in about 42 superfamilies, themselves divided into many more families.

    Among insects, butterflies and their nocturnal relatives and counterparts, namely moths, attract attention for their frequently vivid colors. They are universally recognized and, except for species that resort to mimicry, they cannot be confused with anything else.

    Lepidopterans possess mouthparts modified for ingesting liquids by suction. A long proboscis is extended and inserted into flowers or wounds on plants in order to feed on nectar, tree sap, or juices of rotting fruits. The color patterns of their wings have a very peculiar origin.

    These scales are what is left on a hand as a powdery residue when one handles a butterfly or moth. As the animal grows older, and with the exertions of flying, the scales constantly fall off day by day. That is the reason why butterflies so often look "washed out" and discolored already a few weeks after emerging from the chrysalis. Indeed, the adult life of most butterflies and moths lasts only a few months, when not mere weeks, before their wings begin to literally fall apart.

    Although butterflies and moths are very similar, most butterflies can usually be told for what they are if one looks closely at their antennae. Those of butterflies are thin and end in a small club. The antennae of male moths are feather-like, while those of females are not, yet they never end in a club.

    Butterflies usually have a thin and pronounced "waist" that separates their thoraxes from their abdomens. Moths, on the other hand, lack this trait, their thoraxes and abdomens being nearly fused together without a clear demarcation between the two body parts. One clear exceptions to this rule are the skippers, (small butterflies of the family Hesperiidae), which indeed look like small moths in their general appearance.

    A less obvious difference between the two groups can be noticed when one looks at a resting individual of either kind. Butterflies will usually hold their wings closed, pressed together above the body, while moths will either hold them open and pressed against the substrate or will fold them backwards along and over their bodies. Again, exceptions exist, like that of the nymphalid butterflies of the genus Hamadryas, which will hold their wings open and flat against the tree trunks on which they usually alight.

    And finally, the least reliable difference: butterflies are creatures of the sunlight, while moths enter into their own at night. While no known West Indian butterfly is nocturnal, several moths in the region do indeed prefer the daylight for their feeding and mating. However, and most interestingly, most of the latter are species that mimic diurnal animals, sometimes taxonomically very different from them. The color and flight patterns of some Composia moths are somewhat similar to those of the poisonous Heliconius butterflies the inhabit many of the same forests. Other diurnal moths in the region look strikingly and, at first sight, alarmingly similar the fierce Polistes and Pepsis wasps with which the live in sympatry. And the small and green Aellopos sphynxid moths bear an astonishing resemblance to the tiny Caribbean Mellisuga and Chlorostilbon hummingbirds, as they nervously flit from one flower to another in search of nectar during the day (although, actually, the model for their mimicry seems to be a South American hummingbird, not found in the Antilles).

    There is no lack of mimics among nocturnal Caribbean moths, but these usually resemble inanimate objects, like the lichen or pieces of tree bark on which they usually rest during the day. However, some of the most attractive butterflies in these islands can spectacularly disappear from sight in a fraction of a second not only by coloration mimicry, but also through an interesting behavioral adaptation. This is especially noticeable in the case of some nymphalid butterflies like the, leafwings, silverwings, and orions of the genera Anaea, Siderone, Archaeoprepona,and Historis. These nervous and fast-flying insects will perch on a tree trunk or branch and will instantly close their wings. The upper surface of these are vividly colored in red, orange or blue, but their undersides are patterned like dead, dry leaves. The effect is that they seem to vanish into thin air, and then are almost impossible to spot unless they move, an almost certain way to remain undetected by at least some predators. The members of the also nymphalid genus Hamadryas exhibit a similar behavioral strategy though, in their case, their wings are somberly blotched in grays and browns, and are held flat against the tree trunks, which bark they sometimes mimic with almost total perfection.

    At the opposite end of this behavioral spectrum, some butterflies apparently want to be seen by their predators. These include the slow-flying and brilliantly colored danaiine and heliconiine nymphalid butterflies, like the Danaus monarchs and queens, the Lycorea tigers, the Eueides and Heliconius longwings, and the Agraulis fritillaries. These beautiful butterflies use their striking upper- and underwing patterns and their phlegmatic flights to advertise their distastefulness to potentially interested predators. Their repulsive flavors and dangerous toxicities are due to alkaloids that they incorporate directly from their larval food plants, usually Asclepias milkweeds and Passiflora vines. In turn, some of these butterflies are mimicked by others (like the pierids of the genus Dismorphia) which may or may not be toxic themselves, but which nonetheless derive some protection from the visual ruse.

The proboscis of a dusky swallowtail, Heraclides aristodemus aristodemus swallowtail butterfly can be seen under its head.

Guanica State Forest, south-western Puerto Rico.

A silverking butterfly, (Puerto Rican race, Archaeprepona demophoon ramorosum) feeds on trees sap with its long proboscis.

Camuy Caverns Park, Camuy, north-western Puerto Rico.

Black witch moth, Ascalapha odorata, male, feeding on the juices of fallen fruit.

San Juan north-eastern Puerto Rico.

    Although the butterfly and moth faunas of the Antilles are less varied than those of the nearby continents, they still are conspicuous members of the local insect fauna. A number of species are endemic to the Caribbean islands while many others are found in the American continents, as well.

    Some of the largest and most beautiful butterflies in the world belong to the family Papilionidae. (In fact, Papilio is the genus in which Linnaeus placed all butterflies). Many species are commonly known as "swallowtails" for the extensions of their hind wings. The largest butterfly in the Americas is the giant swallowtail of Jamaica, Pterourus homerus. This huge and impressive insect is endangered due to habitat loss.

    Satyrids are represented in the West Indies by a single genus endemic to the region: Calisto. These small butterflies, gray or reddish brown in color, can be seen fluttering close to the ground in all the Greater Antilles and some of the Bahamas. By far, most species are endemic to Hispaniola, which probably has several dozen species. A few are found in Cuba and the Bahamas, two inhabit the Puerto Rican bank, and there is a single species in Jamaica.

    One of the families of large and colorful butterflies that is best represented in the Antilles is Nymphalidae. Many species are colorful, and members of the related genera Anaea, Archeoprepona, Historis, and Hypna are notoriously fast insects with powerful and bat-like flights. Some, like Colobura, Hamadryas, Marpesia, and the aforementioned Anaea and Archaeoprepona  are highly cryptic when they perch motionless, often folding their wings and showing their undersides that resemble dead leaves. The striking colors of the dorsal sides of their wings are only revealed when they fly.

    Some species like the monarch, Danaus plexippus (of the subfamily Danaiinae) are highly toxic to most predators. Their caterpillars feed on plants with high concentrations of alkaloids that the insects incorporate into their own tissues, thus making themselves unpalatable. They advertise their distastefulness with brilliant orange and black colors, an aposematic combination. Although continental populations of the monarch are famous for their migrations that span thousands of miles, West Indian populations are sedentary, and have indeed evolved into several local subspecies.

A male Puerto Rican crested anole (Anolis cristatellus cristatellus) attempts to devour the caterpillar of a Puerto Rican monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus portoricensis), only to vomit it a few minutes later.

San Juan, north-eastern Puerto Rico.

    Many West Indian nymphalids do not feed on nectar, but rather ingest tree sap or the juices of rotting fruits. They sometimes aggregate whenever fallen fruits accumulate, or where woodpeckers or other animals have broken the bark of living trees.