Butterfly migrations in southwestern Colombia

Abstract

In South America, numerous migratory movements of various species of Lepidoptera have been recorded since the 16th century (Willians 1930; 1945; 1958; Carrera 1984). In some parts of the Southern Cone this phenomenon seems to be relatively frequent and in the Amazon Region it is so well known by the indigenous people that some groups have given it the name of “Panapaná”. Henry W. Bates in his trip through the Amazon in 1848, observed enormous flocks of yellow butterflies that crossed the great river, always in the same direction, from north to south. Some of these migratory flocks, according to the expeditionary, formed columns of kilometers of extension and apparently were constituted of male individuals, since the females were only seen on the low vegetation in the marginal zones of the jungle.