A Dominican Republic sojourn

Niklas Wahlberg

Department of Biology, Laboratory of Genetics, Univesity of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland

E-mail: niklas.wahlberg@utu.fi

and

Carlos Peña

Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden

E-mail: carlos.pena@zoologi.su.se

For downloading the PDF format fileplease click here: A DOMINICAN REPUBLIC SOJOURN

The island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean is home to a large number of endemic organisms. This is also true for butterflies, especially in the family Nymphalidae. The endemic species and genera of Nymphalidae are particularly interesting in an evolutionary sense. There are many endemics, whose closest relatives are found in South, Central and North America, and in one case perhaps even Africa. However, the phylogenetic relationships of the majority of endemic species have not been investigated in detail, hampering inferences about their evolution and historical biogeography. To remedy this situation, we made a collecting trip to the Dominican Republic (DR, the eastern half of Hispaniola, the western being Haiti) from November 3 to 16, 2006. Not much collecting and observing has been done in the month of November, and so we decided to report the findings of our trip here.

We were most interested in collecting as many of the endemic nymphalid species as possible, and thus our focus is on this family, with only occasional observations of species in other families. Our itinerary was planned and executed by Kelvin Guerrero, a local biologist with a good knowledge of the local Lepidoptera and Coleoptera fauna. In short, Kelvin picked us up in his four wheel drive and drove us around DR for almost two weeks, targetting the species we wanted, and he did so successfully! Kelvin also helped us organise the collecting and export permits, making our trip fully legitimate scientifically.

Our flight landed in Puerto Plata on the northern coast of DR, where we spent the night in a nice hotel. In fact throughout our stay the hotels were of acceptable to nice standard, usually with hot water (not really needed!), air conditioning (needed!) and a price range of USD 30-40 for a double room. The next morning we decided to get some collecting done before Kelvin picked us up, and walked down to Playa Long Beach. In the scrub behind the beach, we found lots of Agraulis vanillae, several Calisto pulchella pulchella, Calisto obscura (our first endemics!), Anartia jatrophae and Danaus plexippus megalippe. In addition, there were many skippers and pierids flying about, including Phoebis sennae and Eurema sp. Our running around after butterflies understandably awoke the interest of locals, but after a brief question, we were allowed to pursue our perhaps eccentric behavior (in their eyes) without further hassles. This we found throughout our trip, the people of DR are very friendly, honest and let you go about your own business without bothering you.

We met Kelvin for lunch and he laid out his plan for us, first to the Central Cordillera, then to the southwest of DR and, time permitting, to the southeast of DR. This sounded eminently suitable to us, and so we headed off to Jarabacoa up in the Central Cordillera. Driving in DR is harrowing to say the least, especially in cities. We were glad that we had somebody familiar with local ways (indeed driving in the local way!) at the wheel. The roads in general are in good condition, but there are surprising pot holes and, occasionally, unexpected road bumps as well as traffic driving at wildly different speeds. We did survive the trip without any dangerous situations, but probably because we did not drive!

After spending the night at Jarabacoa, we headed up the mountains to the Parque Nacional Armando Bermúdez near the town of Manabao. Our aim was to take the trail leading to the highest peak in the Caribbean (Pico Duarte at 3175 m) and walk a few kilometers along it to see what was flying around. The trail starts at the village of La Ciénaga, where there is a park ranger’s office. We headed off just as the sun was beginning to warm up the landscape and immediately noticed that Calisto pulchella darlingtoni was very common in the undergrowth (see photograph on page ?). Also common around any wet area was Anartia lytrea, another endemic to Hispaniola. In the open areas on the edges of the forest, we found Dryas iulia and a selection of pierids such as Kricogonia lyside and Melete salacia. The endemic papilionid Heraclides machaonides was relatively common.

The most interesting habitat here was however the forest, a wet deciduous forest mixed with some pines on the steeper slopes. Within the forest we began to see more of the endemics. Many small Calistos flew in the undergrowth, most likely Calisto obscura, as well as two specimens of Calisto galii. Lycorea halia cleobaea was relatively common in the forest, as was the similar looking, but smaller Dismorphia spio. As we came to an opening in the forest, we saw a flash of orange that turned out to be Hypanartia paullus (endemic to the Greater Antilles), the only one we saw during the whole trip! A few acrobatic jumps and it was bagged in the name of science. Returning to the forest, we saw something fluttering in the shadows, which turned out to be Greta diaphanus. They were quite common in the deep shade of the forest. Two more exciting danaines turned up, one specimen each of Anetia jaegeri and Anetia briarea. One more endemic species crowned the day, a pair of Adelpha gelania were caught in copula. Several more were seen in flight in the canopy. One species eluded capture, Archaeoprepona demophoon stayed high in the canopy, out of our reach. As we walked from La Ciénaga to Manabao, we saw a Danaus plexippus and some Anartia jatrophae flying around.

After another night in Jarabacoa (in the ominously named Hotel California), we headed off to La Montaña, a favorite collecting site of previous visitors to the island. The hotel that used to be here was abandoned and the gardens were overgrown. This was perhaps good for the butterflies, and indeed there were many Dryas iulia, Heliconius charithonia, and Calisto confusa flying about. In the forest we saw a Colobura dirce wolcotti, which however eluded capture. Our primary reason to stop here was to search for the rare Atlantea cryptadia, collected by Kelvin at the same site some ten years ago, but it did not show itself, if indeed it occurred there anymore. Also here a fast Archaeoprepona demophoon flashed past, without being caught.

Our next destination was the extreme southwest town of Pedernales, which we headed for after a night in Santo Domingo. The vegetation changed from wet, luxurious to dry and desertlike as we proceeded towards Baharona. Along the coast between Baharona and Enriquillo, the vegetation was again luxurious, but a stop to collect in San Rafael did not yield anything new. Dryas iulia, Heliconius charithonia and a small Calisto flew in numbers, as did Battus polydamas. A possible Historis odius was seen high in the cecropia trees. Another stop by a stream in Paraíso yielded only Heraclides machaonides and Phoebis philea, as well as the ubiquitous H. charithonia and D. iulia.

We reached the edge of Parque Nacional Jaragua after midday and things looked a lot more promising. There had obviously been some rain in this dry Acacia scrub recently and there were loads of Phoebis sennae flying across the road. We drove to the park rangers hut east of the town Oviedo, where we left the car to search for butterflies. It did not take long to discover that the scrub was teeming with other insect life including a small voracious mosquito! One has to suffer for science, and we did so for the next couple of hours in the scorching heat, but it was worth it. There were several new species flying around, including Hamadryas amphichloe diasia, Lucinia cadma torrebia (a biblidine genus endemic to the Greater Antilles), Siproeta stelenes, a small Calisto (possibly C. batesi), many Anartia jatrophae, Protographium zonaria (2 individuals), Heraclides machaonides, as well as the ubiquitous H. charithonia and D. iulia. However, we did not find the endemic genus and species Archimestra teleboas, one of the most wanted species of our trip. A short stop at a site where Kelvin had seen Archimestra one month earlier only turned up another Lucinia as well as Anaea troglodyta troglodyta.

After the night in Pedernales, a small town on the border with Haiti, we returned to the Archimestra site in the morning. The sun was still shining when we spotted an Archimestra sunning itself, although amidst some mean looking cacti, it was still flying! NW desperately tried to pursue it into the cacti and as a result was attacked by a nasty barb-spined cactus, while the Archimestra gently flew further into the thicket. Not long after, an ominous dark grey cloud covered the sun and it began to drizzle, not good butterfly weather. With heavy hearts we headed for the coast to Cabo Rojo, where Archimestra has been recorded earlier. Here we headed into Parque Nacional Jaragua once more from the fishing village of Las Cuevas, into very desertlike conditions, with lots of cacti and sharp limestone rocks on the ground. The weather was partly cloudy and not much was flying about. One Lucinia evaded capture. In a seeming signal of despair, CP proceeded to knock the vegetation with his net in order to see if any butterflies would take flight. None did, but a strange larva dropped into the net at some point. It turned out to be a Lucinia (see photograph on page ?), for which the larva was unknown. The morphology of the larva suggests that it should be placed in the tribe Callicorini, rather than its current Epicalini, and DNA sequences are confirming that. Unfortunately we do not know from which plant it dropped. We searched several bushes for larvae and found several larvae of Anaea troglodyta feeding on Melochia tomentosa (Sterculiaceae). The larvae were within shelters made of host plant leaves stuck together with silk (see photograph on page ?).

The weather cleared up and we headed back to the Archimestra site, this time we had success! Two specimens were caught and the day was saved. A quick visit to the park entrance near Oviedo did not yield anything new except a Heraclides aristodemus. We celebrated the day’s catch by taking our first swim in the Caribbean Sea, only to have to run after the net when a Lucinia flew by.

The next day we took the road from Cabo Rojo up into the mountains to the Parque Nacional Sierra de Bahoruco. It should have been a pleasant day, but both of us had eaten a large dish of lambí (conch) the previous evening, and our stomachs were protesting. Never-the-less, we managed to get up to the pine forests at about 1400 m. It was crystal clear and dead quiet as the first Calisto were waking up. Here we found Calisto schwarzi in good numbers as well as a small Calisto (possibly C. confusa). In addition, there were a few Danaus plexippus, Danaus gilippus, Anetia briarea, Vanessa virginiensis and Junonia evarete flying around. After some hours we descended to the transition zone between pine and deciduous forest where Anartia jatrophae and Junonia evarete were plentiful. Also Dryas iulia and Heliconius charithonia were in evidence, but Calisto were very scarce. We continued down the road to where the forest was entirely deciduous, by this time our energy was flagging and the stomach pains were increasing. Still we persevered and were rewarded with the third endemic Anetia species, A. pantheratus! Soon after, we got the second prize of the morning, the Dynamine serina zetes. A quick stop at the old bauxite mining site of Las Mercedes yielded nothing but a single Calisto, and we decided to head straight for Barahona (a three hour ride) to recuperate. It was a long ride but towards the evening our stomachs returned to normal, a big relief as it meant we were not hit by anything more serious than a small bout of tourist stomach-upset!

The next morning we left for a long ride to Parque Nacional del Este in the far southeastern corner of DR. Along the way, we stopped at Hatillo in the province of Azua, an area of dry Acacia scrub. It was quite hot and humid as we left the car to see what was flying. Lots of Anaea troglodyta flitting around as well as Agraulis vanillae. We found many larvae of Junonia evarete feeding on Bouchea prismatica (Verbenaceae), a new host for this species. In one area there were many Euptoieta hegesia flying, the first time we saw this species during the trip. We spotted an Anthanassa frisia frisia amongst the thorn scrub, one of our target species, but it stayed out of range. NW risked being attacked by thorny vegetation again, but to no avail. The species remained elusive.

We stayed several nights in the small village of Bayahibe close to the Parque Nacional del Este and spent one day on the eastern side of the park (Boca de Yuma) and one day on the western side (Guaraguao) (see photograph on page ?). Boca de Yuma was full of Junonia evarete and possibly J. genoveva, as well as the occassional Hypolimnas misippus, Agraulis vanillae, Heliconius charithonia, Dryas iulia and Anartia jatrophae. We took the trail from the park entrance in great expectation, and our expectations were not let down. Four individuals of Antillea pelops (see photograph on page ?), several Eunica monima, several small Calisto, a couple of Marpesia eleuchea and an old ragged female Asterocampa idyja made the visit worth it! To top it off, we stopped at the recently found colony of Calisto lyceius, previously thought to occur only on the islands of Saona and Catalina, and found it quite abundant in the grassy tussocks, hiding from the hard wind off the sea. Kelvin found a Historis odius as we searched for Calisto.

Our trip was nearing its end, we had gotten most of our target species. Only one important species was missing, the endemic Libytheana terena. We spent the next morning on the western side of the park, where Kelvin said L. terena has occassionally been common. Lo and behold, after walking some hundreds of meters, there it was! A single individual, but enough for our purposes. In addition there were several small Calisto, a Hypolimnas misippus, Papilio demoleus, Marpesia eleuchea and Dryas iulia. Our aims were full-filled in a little over a week, due to the detailed knowledge of our guide Kelvin. We had little to do other than head for Santo Domingo to get the export permits for the collected specimens, and then spend a couple of well-earned days on the beach, enjoying cold Bohemia beer to the rhythm of Bachata.

In summary, we can certainly recommend the services of Kelvin Guerrero (kaguerrero@hotmail.com , http://www.oocities.org/cerambycido/) for anybody planning a trip to the Dominican Republic, either to collect or just watch butterflies, beetles and/or birds. He has his price for his services, but we found it to be entirely reasonable.

We would like to thank the Swedish Research Council for funding our trip to the Dominican Republic and Ricardo Garcia for help in identifying the host plants of the larvae we found.

Table 1. List of species seen with numbers of individuals in brackets for each locality (butterflies in families other than Nymphalidae were identified only occasionally)

Species	Locality
Nymphalidae
Libytheana terena	P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (1)
Danaus plexippus megalippe	Puerto Plata (common); P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (1); P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (common); P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (several)
Danaus gilippus	P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (2); P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (several); Hatillo, Azua (several)
Lycorea halia cleobaea	P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (common); San Rafael, Barahona (1)
Anetia jaegeri	P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (1)
Anetia briarea	P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (1); P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (3)
Anetia pantheratus	P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (1)
Greta diaphanus charadra	P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (common)
Calisto pulchella pulchella	Puerto Plata (2)
Calisto pulchella darlingtoni	P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (common)
Calisto galii	P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (2)
Calisto obscura	Puerto Plata (common); P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (common); P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (common)
Calisto confusa	Jarabacoa, La Vega (common); P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (common)
Calisto lyceius	P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (many)
Calisto batesi	P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (common)
Anaea troglodyta troglodyta	P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (several); P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (1); Hatillo, Azua (common); P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (2)
Euptoieta hegesia	Hatillo, Azua (common); P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (1)
Dryas iulia hispaniola	P. N. Armando Bermudez, La Vega (common); P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (common); P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (common); Hatillo, Azua (common); P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (3)
Agraulis vanillae insularis	Puerto Plata (common); Hatillo, Azua (common); P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (common)
Heliconius charithonia churchi	La Montaña, Jarabacoa, La Vega (common); P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (common); P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (common); P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (common)
Adelpha gelania gelania	P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (5)
Marpesia eleuchea dospassosi	P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (4)
Hamadryas amphichloe diasia	P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (3); P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (common)
Dynamine serina zetes	P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (1)
Archimestra teleboas	P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (3)
Lucinia cadma torrebia	P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (6)
Eunica monima	P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (common)
Asterocampa idyja	P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (1)
Historis odius odius	P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (1)
Colobura dirce	La Montaña, Jarabacoa, La Vega (1)
Vanessa virginiensis	P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (several)
Hypanartia paullus	P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (1)
Anartia jatrophae	Puerto Plata (1); P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (several); P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (common); P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (common); P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (common)
Anartia lytrea	P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (common)
Siproeta stelenes	P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (1); P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (2); P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (1)
Hypolimnas misippus	P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (5)
Junonia genoveva	P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (several)
Junonia evarete	P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (common); Hatillo, Azua (several); P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (common)
Antillea pelops	P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (4)
Anthanassa frisia frisia	Hatillo, Azua (1)
Lycaenidae
Chlorostrymon simaethis	P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (2)
Ministrymon azia	San Rafael, Baharona (1); P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (1)
Leptotes cassius	San Rafael, Baharona (1)
Cyclargus thomasi	P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (1); P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (1)
Hemiargus hanno	Hatillo, Azua (1); La Montaña, Jarabacoa, La Vega (1)
Strymon columella	P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (1); P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (2)
Elektrostrymon angelia	Puerto Plata (1)
Pieridae
Dismorphia spio	P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (common); P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (several)
Melete salacia	P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (1)
Kricogonia lyside	P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (1); Paraíso, Baharona (1)
Appias drusilla	P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (1)
Anteos chlorinde	Paraíso, Baharona (several)
Phoebis philea	P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (common); Paraíso, Barahona (several)
Phoebis sennae	Puerto Plata (several); P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (several); P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (common); P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (common); P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (common)
Eurema spp. (at least 7 spp.)	Puerto Plata (common); P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (several); P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (common); P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (common); P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (common)
Aphrissa godartiana	P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (1)
Papilionidae
Battus polydamas	San Rafael, Baharona (several)
Protographium zonarius	P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (2)
Papilio demoleus	P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (several); Hatillo, Azua (several); P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (several)
Heraclides aristodemus	P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (1)
Heraclides machaonides	P. N. Armando Bermudéz, La Vega (several); P. N. Jaragua, Pedernales (several); P. N. Sierra de Bahuroco, Pedernales (several); P. N. del Este, La Altagracia (several)

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