A Greta oto glass-winged butterfly uses its straw-like proboscis to drink nectar.

Green Hills Butterfly Ranch, Belize
A close-up view of  a Caligo memnon owl butterfly hindwing reveals the scales that create this tropical insect's distinct eyespots.

 Green Hills Butterfly Ranch, Cayo District, Belize
Detail of a moth's wing.

Kibale Forest, Uganda
Morpho peleides, the common morpho, is perhaps the most widely-recognized insect in the Neotropics. 

Green Hills Butterfly Ranch, Cayo District, Belize
In a remnant of the vanishing Atlantic Coastal Rainforest, an inchworm (Geometridae) moves along a leaf.

Morretes, Paraná, Brazil
Danaus plexippus - monarch butterfly taking nectar from a fall-blooming aster.

Urbana, Illinois, USA
Danaus plexippus - monarch butterfly taking nectar from a fall-blooming aster.

Urbana, Illinois, USA
Papilio polyxenes - eastern black swallowtail - caterpillar with defensive osmeterium everted.

Urbana, Illinois, USA
Hyalophora cecropia, close-up of hind wing.

Urbana, Illinois, USA
In a remnant of the vanishing Atlantic Coastal Rainforest, an inchworm (Geometridae) moves along a leaf.

Morretes, Paraná, Brazil
In a remnant of the vanishing Atlantic Coastal Rainforest, an inchworm (Geometridae) moves along a leaf.

Morretes, Paraná, Brazil
In a remnant of the vanishing Atlantic Coastal Rainforest, an inchworm (Geometridae) moves along a leaf.

Morretes, Paraná, Brazil
See photo in original gallery.
all images and text © Alex Wild 2001-2013