This week's butterfly is Eurytides orabilis, a small Kite Swallowtail found in Central and South America. Because its white, yellow, green or cream-colored wings have wide black borders, with one wide black stripe down the underside and one stripe (in isocharis) or just a tab (in orabilis orabilis) of black down the upper wide of the forewings, it's sometimes called the Thick-Bordered Kite. E. dioxippus might be said to have a better claim on that name, since its borders are typically thicker, but calling orabilis the Colombian Kite doesn't make things much clearer as dioxippus is also found in Colonbia, and is more common. Orabilis seems always to have been rare.
The black border is even wider on the hind wings, covering the scalloped outer corners of the wings above the long black tails. The wingspan averages about two inches. Males and females look alike.
Photo by rtshaw80. This species has not been photographed as often as some Kites. Most web sites use photos of museum specimens, which fade to black and white although living butterflies can be vividly colored. The species was discovered only in 1872,
The name orabilis is a Latin word for "capable of being entreated," listed but not often used as a woman's name (sometimes thought to be the origin of the name Arabel). It is not to be confused with horribilis, "capable of causing horror, horrible." However, it's hard to see the relevance of either word to butterflies.
The basic E. orabilis is found in Costa Rica, Panama, and Guatemala. The subspecies E. orabilis isocharis is found in Colombia and Ecuador.
Photo by Luis Miguel Constantino. The southern subspecies isocharis, "equal grace," has stripes both above and below on the forewings.
As in many Swallowtail species, females eclose with a full load of eggs and may have to wait a few days for males to mature enough to mate. Young males hang out in groups near shallow water, drinking water from wet sand. Females flit around the edges of these "leks" from time to time, checking out the males, until males are ready to flit off with them. After mating, males fly high and wide, often above the treetops, while females fly around plants in the genus Guatteria, placing one egg on each chosen leaf. They may be found at any time of year.
Although this species is listed among the attractions of some popular parks and preserves like the Piedras Blancas in Colombia, records of observations look like "1 sighting in July, 2 sightings in October," and so on. Most of the Kites are host-specific and cannot overpopulate, which makes them sparsely distributed when the population is stable at optimal levels. Good clear photos of orabilis are "rarities" because there can be a maximum of one caterpillar in a tree, and only a few of those caterpillars will become the butterflies who place a maximum of one egg in a tree for the next generation.
Photo by Hholbrook
Though not common, the species seems not to be threatened.
Eggs are said to resemble little white beads.
Caterpillars are described as grayish at first, maturing into green skins with black spots. They have the usual humpbacked look that conceals a yellow osmeterium
Digitalized sources didn't even offer a description of the pupa or the process of pupation. A generation of these butterflies may be three to four months long. Not much is positively known about them. There is room for scientists to add to the world's collection of knowledge.
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