Mariposas de Costa Rica / Butterflies and Moths of Costa Rica Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Basics: 2007, 624pp, flexcover; 5 families of about 400 butterfly species and 27 families of about 700 moth species; 130 figures of drawings and photos; all photos are of pinned specimens; photos of live caterpillars; text provided for only the families and subfamilies; all material in both Spanish and English
This book helps to illustrate a good number of the many butterflies and moths that inhabit Costa Rica. They are shown with excellent color photographs in 257 plates. This book also provides a solid reference for distinguishing the many subfamilies with detailed text and drawings. I can't really call it a field guide because of its thickness (624 pages), how the book is formatted with photos but no identification material, and the inclusion of a great deal of biological and anatomical information. This work is just as much a reference book as it is a photo guide.
There are three distinct sections of this book. The first third (154 pages) is the text written in Spanish and duplicated as the last third but in English. The middle third is made up of the color plates. These plates contain hundreds of very good photographs. They all are large, in focus, and with vivid colors. The breakdown is 160 plates with about 700 species of moths and another 97 plates with about 400 species of butterflies. These include many plates of just larvae or pupae. All photographs of the adult butterflies and moths are of pinned museum specimens. None are in the wild.
The presentation of the specimens in the plates has me somewhat stymied. Some are shown only with a dorsal view, some only ventral, while others are shown with both. Similarly, species are shown with only the male, or only the female, and some with both genders. This creates some minor confusion when looking for a particular species. This slight confusion is exacerbated by placing like species side-by-side on some plates and then above one another on other plates. The total effect causes you to pay a little more attention to make sure you're seeing all photos of the species and, that you're looking at the correct one.
The only text to accompany the photograph is the scientific name of the species. There is no identification material and the common names are not used or listed anywhere in this book.
The plates are arranged by family and subfamily. For the moths, 27 different families are shown and 5 families for the butterflies. Each family is broken down further by subfamily and, sometimes, tribe. If 5 families of butterflies seem light, keep in mind these are represented by 18 subfamilies. The Nymphalidae family itself takes up a bulk of the butterfly plates. At the conclusion of each family or subfamily are the plates of caterpillars. Only a small percentage of the species are shown as a caterpillar.
As another quirk to this book, many of the caterpillars are "orphaned", meaning there is no photo of them as a butterfly or moth. A second oddity is the entire section of butterflies is sandwiched in between the moths.
As noted above, the 154 pages of text and the 130+ additional photos and illustrations are duplicated in Spanish and English. This material does not address individual species with identification material. Instead, the focus is on lepidopteron biology and on the anatomical characteristics of each family, subfamily, or tribe. The sections that address the families are richly illustrated with good drawings of the wing cells and venations of the groups. Some additional, brief information is also given on the variety of host plants, the distribution, and the diversity of the family.
Much of the text is written towards the more involved or trained lepidopterist as evidenced by the science related vocabulary. As an example, the subfamily Geometrinae is described thus: "...vein R is generally separate from vein Rs1, but anastomosed to vein Sc by a short distance. Accessory cell often absent. Vein M1 generally arises from the base of the peduncle."
This information is exceptionally useful, but it does narrow down the reading audience a bit. The remaining 40 pages of text are very informative as well as useful. It addresses collecting and mounting the butterflies while also giving a great overview on biology, anatomy, reproduction, and feeding.
This book will certainly be desired by any avid butterfly enthusiast. It is certainly one of the best references to Costa Rica's butterflies. - (written by Jack at Avian Review / Avian Books, December 2009)
I've listed several related books below...
The Butterflies of Costa Rica and Their Natural History Vol I & II by Devries
The Butterflies of Venezuela, Volumes 1 & 2 by Neild
Field Guide to the Wildlife of Costa Rica by Henderson

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This book introduces the reader to the various aspects about the anatomy and physiology of each life cycle stage of butterflies and moths. It includes a description of 32 families out of all 73 families that live in Costa Rica, with data about their taxonomy, diversity, distribution and natural history, as well as their corresponding subfamilies. At the end of the book is a chapter with observations and recommendations for collecting lepidopterans for scientific purposes.The book is illustrated with nearly 2,000 full-color photos of 1,170 species, and black and white drawings on morphological aspects.

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