Mysoria amra

Only the second species of firetip we'd ever encountered at the time, this one made our day. Skippers are a difficult group of butterflies to identify, as many are small, brown, and similar to other closely related species. But firetips are large, colorful, and distinctive tropical skippers. They are the kings of the skipper family, at least of the ones we've seen. Melanie in particlar loves it when a species is so aptly-named as this blue-collared firetip. That blue collar and the blazing red at the tip of the abdomen! I hope we can go back soon and see more of these beauties!