List of butterflies of the Cayman Islands

This is a list of butterflies of the Cayman Islands. According to a recent estimate, there are 52 butterfly species found on the Cayman Islands. The abbreviation (Es) is used to indicate endemic subspecies.

Location of the Cayman Islands

Papilionidae

• Battus polydamas cubensis (Dufrane, 1946) – Polydamas swallowtail
• Heraclides andraemon andraemon (Hübner, 1823) – Andraemon swallowtail
• Heraclides andraemon tailori (Rothschild & Jordan, 1906) – Grand Cayman swallowtail (Es)
• Heraclides aristodemus (Esper, 1794) – dusky swallowtail

Pieridae

Great southern white

False barred sulphur

• Abaeis nicippe (Cramer, 1779) – black bordered orange, sleepy orange
• Anteos maerula (Fabricius, 1775) – yellow angled sulphur
• Aphrissa orbis (Poey, 1832) – orbed sulphur
• Aphrissa statira cubana (D'Almeida, 1939) – migrant sulphur
• Ascia monuste eubotea (Godart, 1819) – great southern white
• Eurema daira palmira (Godart, 1819) – barred sulphur
• Eurema elathea (Cramer, 1777) – false barred sulphur
• Glutophrissa drusilla poeyi (Butler, 1872) – Florida white
• Nathalis iole (Boisduval, 1836) – dainty sulphur, dwarf yellow
• Phoebis agarithe antillia (Brown, 1929) – giant orange sulphur
• Phoebis argante (Fabricius, 1775) – apricot sulphur, Argante giant sulphur
• Phoebis philea (Linnaeus, 1763) – orange-barred sulphur
• Phoebis sennae sennae (Linnaeus, 1758) – cloudless sulphur
• Pyrisitia lisa euterpe (Ménétriés, 1832) – little sulphur
• Pyrisitia messalina (Fabricius, 1787) – shy yellow
• Pyrisitia nise nise (Cramer, 1775) – mimosa sulphur, blacktip sulphur

Nymphalidae

Nymphalinae

Crescent spot

Queen

Julia

• Anaea troglodyta cubana (Fabricius, 1775) – Cuban red leaf butterfly, troglodyte
• Anartia jatrophae jamaicensis (Möshler, 1886) – white peacock
• Euptoieta hegesia hegesia (Cramer, 1779)
• Hamadryas amphichloe (Boisduval, 1870) – Haitian cracker, click butterfly
• Hypolimnas misippus (Linnaeus, 1764) – mimic
• Junonia evarete (Cramer, 1779) – mangrove buckeye
• Junonia genoveva (Cramer, 1780) – Caribbean buckeye, tropical buckeye
• Marpesia chiron (Fabricius, 1775) – many-banded daggerwing
• Marpesia eleuchea (Hübner, 1818) – Antillean ruddy daggerwing
• Memphis verticordia danielana (Witt, 1972) – Cayman brown leaf butterfly (Es)
• Phyciodes phaon (W.H.Edwards, 1864) – Cayman crescent spot
• Phyciodes tharos (Drury, [1773])
• Siproeta stelenes bilagiata (Fruhstorfer, 1907) – malachite
• Vanessa cardui (Linnaeus, 1758) – painted lady

Danainae

• Danaus eresimus tethys (Cramer, 1777) – soldier
• Danaus gilippus berenice (Cramer, 1775) – queen
• Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus, 1758) – monarch

Satyrinae

• Calisto herophile (Hübner, 1823) – ringlet

Heliconiinae

• Agraulis vanillae insularis (Maynard, 1889) – Gulf fritillary
• Dryas iulia zoe (Miller & Steinhauser, 1992) – Julia, flambeau (Es)
• Heliconius charitonius (Linnaeus, 1767) – zebra

Lycaenidae

Western pygmy blue

Lucas's blue

• Brephidium exilis thompsoni (Carpenter & Lewis, 1943) – pygmy blue (Es)
• Chlorostrymon maesites (Henrrich-Schäffer, 1864) – amethyst hairstreak
• Cyclargus ammon erembis Nabokov, 1948 – Lucas's blue (Es)
• Electrostrymon angelia (Hewitson, 1874) – fulvous hairstreak
• Eumaeus atala (Poey, 1832) – Atala
• Hemiargus hanno filenus (Poey, 1832) – Hanno blue
• Leptoptes cassius theonus (Lucas, 1857) – Cassius blue
• Strymon acis (Drury, 1773) – Drury's hairstreak
• Strymon istapa (Reakirt, 1867) – Hewitson's hairstreak
• Strymon martialis (Henrrich-Schäffer, 1865) – Cuban grey hairstreak

Hesperiidae

Monk

Long-tailed skipper

• Asbolis capucinus (Lucas, 1857) – monk
• Atalopedes mesogramma (Latreille, 1824) – striped skipper
• Calpodes ethlius (Stoll, 1782) – canna skipper, Brazilian skipper
• Cymaenes tripuntus (Henrrich-Schäffer, 1865) – three spot skipper
• Hylephila phyleus (Drury, 1773) – fiery skipper
• Panoquina lucas (Fabricius, 1793) – purple-washed skipper, sugar cane skipper
• Panoquina ocala (W. H. Edwards, 1863) – Ocala skipper
• Panoquina panoquinoides (Skinner, 1891) – obscure skipper
• Phocides pigmalion batabano (Lucas, 1857) – mangrove skipper
• Urbanus dorantes santiago (Lucas, 1857) – Dorantes skipper
• Urbanus proteus domingo (Scudder, 1872) – long-tailed skipper

References

• R. R. Askew and P. A. van B. Stafford, Butterflies of the Cayman Islands (Apollo Books, Stenstrup 2008) ISBN 978-87-88757-85-9
• Cayman Butterflies