Butterfly Biodiversity

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Prepona praeneste or prepona roja de la montaña

In Colombia there are an estimated 3800 different butterfly species, with a confirmed count of 3273 as of January 2009 -- ranking the country #2 in the world in terms of butterfly diversity.

Like Birds, many species are threatened. Among the threatened species are the Arhuaco ica or mariposa de los arhuacos, Lymanopoda caeruleata or Limanopada azul, Morpho rhodopteron or Morfo Anacarada, all native to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. In addition, the Prepona praeneste or prepona roja de la montaña from the Andean Zone and the Prepona werneri or prepona azul from Chocó are all endangered species.

The loss of species is due to the growth of agriculture, cattle, and most importantly the cutting down of trees in order to plant drug crops which are then sprayed with chemicals (thank you US government) that destroy insect habitat.

On Flickr there is a group of 54 pictures of Colombian butterflies. You can click here and then click on detail to see each one up close.

Photo:

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