Bugs of Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago are all-round ecotourism destinations.   Not only is the bird life world-famous, but Tobago is also home to some pretty good coral reefs.   One less obvious attraction is the insect life, and I don't mean mosquitoes!

There are 433 species of bird here, but more than 620 varieties of butterfly!   Of course you'll see many colorful tropical butterflies, but there are also some fairly unusual ones which might surprise you.   You'll recognize similarities between the different butterflies, including those which look like Buckeye butterflies, and others which have the same shape as the Julia butterfly.   One particular favorite for me was the Owl Butterfly, which isn't particularly colorful or unusual, but because of its size and patterns is still pretty spectacular.   Finally, there are other butterflies which don't fall into any of these other categories.

As you might expect, Trinidad and Tobago also has a wide variety of dragonflies and damselflies.

This doesn't exhaust the possibilities.   For some reason, I didn't see too many beetles, but there were plenty of other interesting insects.   Leaf-cutter ants are common, and easy to track down with their glaringly obvious trails.   Finally, I'm not sure which I found more unpleasant - the spiders who prey on whatever insects they can lay their fangs into, or the parasitic wasps who prey on the spiders.   Either way, you'll find both the wasps and the spiders here!