Memories of containment in Guyane

[jmg]

Faced with covid-19, confinement in the Guyanese forest has great advantages: isolated, we are far from the virus and, above all, we meet butterflies. In March and April 2020, lepidoptera were numerous on the Montagne de Kaw (French Guyane). Besides interesting Papilionidae (Battus crassus crassus, Parides sps.), superb different forms of H. erato, beautiful Nymphalidae (Agrias narcissus and A. claudina, Panacaea bleuzeni - endemic to Kaw Mountain), Morphos were very abundant. Of the nine species in French Guyane, only telemachus was absent (it emerges at the end of April and flies in May). The eight other species very abundant : M. eugenia, M. marcus, M. rhetenor, M. menelaus, M. helenor, M. achilles, M. deidamia and M. hecuba.

My confinement bungalow (with kitchen) at Relais Patawa on Kaw Mountain, in the middle of the forest. Complete isolation!

 





Here are some memories of the Guyanese forest. Others will follow! The videos were made with an iPhone using the "slow motion" mode.

1. Morpho marcus marcus


 



2. Morpho helenor helenor. It seems that the butterfly in the second video is a female.






3. Morpho achilles achilles






4. Morpho deidamia deidamia










5. Morpho menelaus menelaus





 






6. Morpho rhetenor rhetenor








7. Morpho hecuba hecuba











8. Other butterflies

Among Papilionidae, Battus crassus crassus:



Heraclides garleppi lecerfi



Agrias claudina claudina



Agrias narcissus narcissus



Panacaea bleuzeni


 

Archaeoprepona demophon

Video:
<a href="https://imgur.com/PejcNzA"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/PejcNzA.mp4" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
 

9. Other meetings

Bothrops atrox (large female) ; sorry about the photo poor quality: it was in the shade and I didn't want to get too close to this animal.



Spilotes sulphureus




Finally, a glimpse of the soundscape at the end of the day in Patawa (Kaw Mountain) with these very noisy parrots.

[wollastoni]

Superb !
And it should be Agrias claudina sahlkei !

Congrats they are not easy to find !

[jmg]

Thank you! I first thought it was salkhei, then when visiting BOA, I opted for claudina claudina. Admittedly, salkhei is reputed to be much rarer than ssp. nominal. That said, I don't know much about the Agrias.

The problem for a photographer is that Agrias, like Panacaea bleuzeni, are canopy butterflies. Difficult to take good photos in natura. They are trapped and photographs of dead animals. Which is much less satisfactory!

In Colombia, the Agrias come pretty well and fairly quickly to the bait of rotten fish juice dropped on leaves (see : collector-secret.proboards.com/thread/3214/agrias-claudina-lugens ). This allows them to be photographed or filmed. In Guyane, they come to plantain traps. But when ? We cannot stay for hours waiting for the happy event !!

[trehopr1]

Wonderful photo's Jean- Marc. Thank You for sharing...

If one has to be contained somewhere due to this situation at hand; I cannot think of a better place than a rainforest region for a Lepidopterist at large !

[acrocinus]

Bonjour Jean Marc
Merci pour le partage de ces belles photos et vidéos. On voit qu'il y a encore de belles choses en guyane.
Amitiés

[exoticimports]

Apr 30, 2020 5:01:21 GMT trehopr1 said:

Wonderful photo's Jean- Marc. Thank You for sharing...

If one has to be contained somewhere due to this situation at hand; I cannot think of a better place than a rainforest region for a Lepidopterist at large !

Absolutely right!

[wollastoni]

Apr 29, 2020 14:11:51 GMT jmg said:

Thank you! I first thought it was salkhei, then when visiting BOA, I opted for claudina claudina. Admittedly, salkhei is reputed to be much rarer than ssp. nominal. That said, I don't know much about the Agrias.

Yes sahlkei is harder to find in collection. Its main locality being French Guyana, few French dealers have some for sale in Juvisy though. (Castelain, Delassise, ...)