CubaPLUS Magazine

Almost everyone loves the captivating presence of butterflies that abound in Cuban gardens, parks, valleys and mountains and flood the environment with their almost magical presence, colorful due to their lively flight and delicate silhouettes, while helping to pollinate flowers, a necessary and useful function given to them by nature.

There are scholars who have come to count 177 diurnal species of these arthropods in the archipelago, counting migratory specimens such as the imposing Monarch of North America, sighted in three types in these parts.

But the truth is that only about 18 are considered autochthonous, some with subgroups of such extraordinary beauty that they have nothing to envy  the famous foreigners. This is the case of the stylized and elegant Cuban Phalve butterfly, named Avellaneda, in honor of the great Cuban poetess, as majestic as her and very abundant in the eastern mountains and the Crystal Butterfly, with incredible transparent wings.

The migratory processes that not only involve birds, increase the numbers of butterflies staying overnight in Cuban gardens and fields to figures much higher than those mentioned, estimate experts, who continue with their classification studies.Their stay is therefore a party similar to a rainbow, which in the case of our Island is not affected by the absence of the abuse of exterminating pesticides, as happens in other nations.

In addition to the marvelous Avellaneda, one of the most showy lagundlachianus is found, whose name honors the great German wise man who lived on the island in the 19th century, also from the eastern zone.

In the eastern mountains, the region with the greatest biodiversity in the insular Caribbean, there are also the magnificent Cuban Hymenitis, Cuban Dysmorphia and Cuban Anetia, considered jewels throughout the Americas. With presence in other regions of the country, Heliconius, Colabura, Sennae and Sideroni stand out for their beauty.

This gift of nature does not always appear in a kind way for humans and the environment, as there are some species that unfortunately constitute true pests for crops and the wood of certain plant species, which must be kept under very strict control. They are insects that hatch from eggs deposited on the foliage of plants and then undergo several metamorphoses during their development.

It is surprising how from ugly worms or larvae they later become caterpillars  and not always, as we have already said, they become those gentle winged beings, with a very ephemeral but necessary life.