By Monika Buczak
Wandering down the trails at Monteverde’s Bajo del Tigre Reserve, you notice flashes of color out of the corner of your eye. Myriad butterflies are flying around, ranging in color from black to yellow to white and orange. But perhaps the most fantastic is the Blue Morpho. With bright blue wings up to 8 inches wide, the morpho is one of the largest butterflies in the world!
As the morpho flies past, you notice is bright, metallic blue wings, but they are not actually blue! Their wings have microscopic scales on the tops of the wings that reflect blue light, but are not actually blue in color.
The underside of the morpho’s wings tells a different story. They are a dull brown color that help the morpho camouflage itself when sitting with its wings folded. This side of the wing also features large eye spots to scare of predators, in case the camouflage is unsuccessful.
Blue morphos can be found in all layers of the forest. They may fly high into the canopy when searching for a mate, but also spend a lot of time near the forest floor searching for food. As caterpillars, the blue morphos eat leaves, and then change their diets as adults. Adult blue morphos, like all butterflies, drink their food using their long proboscis (mouth parts) as a straw. They consume the juice of rotting fruit, the fluids of decomposing animals, tree sap, fungi, and wet, nutrient-rich mud. They use sensors on their legs to taste fruit and their antennae to both taste and smell the air around them.
Blue morpho butterflies can be found from Mexico through Central America and into South America, including Colombia and Venezuela. These beautiful creatures are a striking and favorite rainforest species!
Monika Buczak is a student at Lehigh University and completed an internship with the Monteverde Conservation League (MCL) and Children’s Eternal Rainforest (CER) in 2016. Edited by Lindsay Stallcup, Executive Director of the MCL, the Costa Rican nonprofit that owns and manages the CER and its Bajo del Tigre Reserve. Photo by Mark Wainwright.