Oaxaca Butterflies

Oaxaca, Mexico has a rich lepidopteran fauna with almost 1000 species of butterflies recorded! Butterflies seen on past trips (and that we were able to identify) have included the following. Thanks to John & Melanie Dicus for their identification help.

Skippers (Hesperidae)

  • Tropical checkered skipper

  • Two-barred flasher

  • Yellow-tipped flasher

  • White-crescent longtail

  • White-striped longtail

  • Dorantes longtail

  • Laviana white skipper

  • Bold mylon

  • Inimical skipper

  • Gold-tufted skipper

  • Yellow-stained skipper

  • Blue-collared firetip

Swallowtails (Papilionidae)

  • Two-tailed swallowtail

  • Giant swallowtail

  • Torquatus swallowtail

  • Polydamas swallowtail

  • Ruby-spotted swallowtial

  • Long-tailed kite-swallowtail

Whites & Sulphurs (Pieridae)

  • Great southern white

  • Florida white

  • Black-painted tilewhite

  • White-angled sulphur

  • Yellow-angled sulphur

  • Cloudless sulphur

  • Large orange sulphur

  • Orange-barred sulphur

  • Northern melwhite

  • Barred yellow

  • Dainty sulphur

  • Narrow-banded dartwhite

  • Golden dartwhite

Blues & Hairstreaks (Lycaenidae)

  • Great purple hairstreak

  • Ceraunus blue

  • Cassius blue

  • Reakirt's blue

Brush-footed butterflies (Nymphalidae)

  • Gulf fritillary

  • Variegated fritillary

  • Mexican fritillary

  • Mexican silverspot

  • Zebra

  • Erato heliconian

  • Mountain longwing

  • Isabella's heliconian

  • Julia

  • Crimson patch

  • Red-spotted patch

  • Elf

  • Myia crescent

  • West coast lady

  • Painted lady

  • Tropical buckeye

  • White peacock

  • Banded peacock

  • Malachite

  • Rusty-tipped paige

  • Dingy purplewing

  • Red rim

  • Glaucous cracker

  • Guatemalan cracker

  • Ruddy daggerwing

  • Many-banded daggerwing

  • Tropical leafwing

  • Pale-spotted leafwing

  • Tiger leafwing

  • Silver emperor

  • Orange mapwing

  • Godman's mapwing

  • Leading redring

  • Four-spotted sailor

  • Navy eighty-eight

  • Anna's eighty-eight

  • Pale eighty-eight

  • Blomfield's beauty

  • Monarch

  • Queen

  • Pine satyr

  • Carolina satyr

  • Brown-rimmed clearwing

  • Thick-tipped greta

  • Klug's clearwing

  • White morpho

  • Blue morpho sp.