White Morpho - Morpho polyphemus

Morpho polyphemus

Nice Pic!...and YES - This species can be a stray here in the US, but thus far only known from se. Arizona.

Since this image was taken in a "Florida Butterfly House", the true origin may not be known, hence the given locality and date needs to be relocated under comments so as not to reflect on the data map ... by all accounts, we could place this species across much of the US & Canada should we start including specimens from conservatories.

NOTE: It is likely this particular specimen is from El Salvador, the most reliable source thus far for M. polyphemus; Francisco Serrano has been supplying this species for years to Butterfly houses around the US ...and world. Another possibility, there are a few farms that operate in Costa Rica, Mexico & Belize, all of which have supplied, or at least offered, this species over the last few years.

… Bill Reynolds, 2 March, 2010 - 1:43pm

Morpho peleides

This Morpho peleides, according to the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, came from Costa Rica.

… Robert Lord Zimlich, 23 July, 2012 - 2:34pm

somebody in Winnepeg

needs to learn their Morphos better. M. [helenor] peleides is a very different blue and black (brown below) species.

… David J. Ferguson, 13 November, 2012 - 8:08pm

What camera

What camera do you use? that is nice color and depth.

My Blog

… Jonathan Burishkin, 8 June, 2006 - 8:31pm

Beautiful

Looks like a Nymphalid of some sort. Definitely not native to this country.

… Cliff Bernzweig, 8 June, 2006 - 7:00pm

Agreed

I believe this is a White Morpho. We had them at UF's Butterfly Rainforest where I used to work. You did well to catch one sitting still.

Actually according to this website, where I found an image it's a very rare stray to AZ.

… Hannah Nendick-Mason, 8 June, 2006 - 7:07pm

...

(deleted duplicate comment)

… Hannah Nendick-Mason, 8 June, 2006 - 7:07pm

thanks

yeah, I wasn't sure if it was from the USA or not since I saw it in butterfly world.

thanks!

… Isa Betancourt, 8 June, 2006 - 7:11pm

I wonder if we should have a page for this one

- since we have pages for other rare strays to the US, such as Three-tailed Swallowtail and Yellow Brimstone. Let's see if anyone else offers an opinion. It's a nice shot - and Butterflies of North America has it on their site.

… Hannah Nendick-Mason, 8 June, 2006 - 7:21pm