Cracker butterfly, wings spread
Hamadryas sp.
Cracker butterfly · Carlsbad · 7 March 2026
A cracker, the Hamadryas group, wings flat against the mesh of the butterfly house. In the wild these are butterflies of the forests of Central and South America, and they rest head-down on tree trunks with the wings spread, which this one is doing on a wall of netting instead.
Black ground, a lattice of pale blue loops and rings, and cream patches near the forewing tips: very likely a Red Cracker, which carries exactly this blue-black marbling above and a vivid red hindwing beneath that never shows in this pose, but the several cracker species kept in collections are close enough above that I've left it at genus. Crackers are named for the sharp clicking the males make in flight, audible from several metres away.
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