88 Butterflies

Anna’s 88 (Diaethria anna), ventral view (from Wikimedia) 3 October 2026, WINGS Veracruz: Migration is a Moving Experience: Day 5, the highlands near Xalapa “88” is not the count of butterflies we’ve seen on our birding tour. It’s the common name of Diaethria sp. butterflies whose wings have an “88” or “89” pattern on them. There are 12 species of Diaetheria butterflies, some of which are found in Veracruz including the Anna’s Eight-Eight (Diaethria anna). The adults feed on rotting fruit, tree sap, and dung, so don’t look for them at flowers. Diaethria butterflies have completely different colors and patterns on their dorsal and ventral sides — so different that they don’t look like the same butterfly. Widespread 88 butterfly (Diaethria cylmena) showing both sides of wings, Brazil (photo from Wikimedia) The ventral side (wings held closed) has a white background with black lines that almost make concentric circles surrounding the numerals 88 or 89 in the center. The upper wing is red…