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Excerpts from Jim Conrad's
Naturalist Newsletter
from the September 17, 2017 Newsletter issued from Rancho Regenesis in the woods ±4kms west of Ek Balam Ruins; elevation ~40m (~130 ft), N20.876°, W88.170°; north-central Yucatán, MÉXICO
WHITE SAILOR
Above you can see the latest addition to our Butterflies of Yucatán Identification Page at ../yucatan/mariposa/
Usually that's known as the White Sailor. It's DYNAMINE THESEUS, distributed from southern Mexico south through Central America to northern South America, and despite occurring over such a large area not much is known about it or its caterpillars.
The "Sailor" part of the English name applies to a fair number of species in the genus Dynamine. This is the first White Sailor I've spotted, but the Mexican Sailor, Dynamine posterta, is common here, in some disturbed environments the most evident of all species. You might enjoy comparing this week's White Sailor with the common Mexican Sailor, at www.backyardnature.net/yucatan/mariposa/butt005.jpg
Our local form of the Mexican Sailor is bluish above, as shown at www.backyardnature.net/yucatan/mariposa/butt006.jpg
