Summer 2023 in the Butterfly Rainforest

The butterflies and the plants in the Butterfly Rainforest have been loving the bright, hot days of Florida’s summer. The plants soaked up the heavy afternoon rains and are just bursting with flowers, which the butterflies love. Summers get pretty active around here with visitors from all over the country, but we hope you had a chance to visit our lush ‘rainforest’!

Tan, brown and cream-colored butterfly sitting on a yellow flower.

White peacock butterfly sits on the dancing lady orchid blossoms. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

Black butterfly with wide teal green "V" shaped marking. The black part of the wings are heavily scattered with thin teal-green dots.

Emerald Swallowtail, Papilio palinurus. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

small pink flowers with purple tips growing from a center stem

Matchstick bromeliad flowers. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

butterfly with its wings open. The center of the wings near the Butterfly's body is bright white while the edges of the wings are orange with darker orange markings.

The pearl charaxes, Charaxes varanes, this butterfly has a wingspan of 2.5-3.5 inches. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

Wide striped yellow and brown leaves growing from a center point

Hawaiian ti, chocolate queen. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

The new leaves of a Hawaiian ti are just as colorful as any flower. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

The sword tail butterflies with their long tail and bright stripes, are easy to spot and keep a lookout for the brilliant green of the tailed jay butterflies. You can almost always find the large nymph butterflies fluttering in the branches above the pathways of the Butterfly exhibit. These butterflies have a wingspan of 4.5 to 6.0 inches, they’re one of our larger butterflies.

Large butterfly with its wings open. The butterfly is black with teal0blue stripes and spots and a long tail.

Large-striped Swordtail, Graphium antheus has a wingspan of 2.6-3 inches. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

Two large yellow, white and black butterflies sitting on opposite sides of a large green leaf

Tree Nymph butterflies. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

Large butterfly with its wings open. The butterfly is black with thin teal-blue stripes and spots and a long tail. Three small spots of red sit at the base of the butterflies body.

Black Swordtail, Graphium colonna has a wingspan of 2-2.6 inches. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

large white and black butterfly sitting on thin red, green, and yellow leaves

Tree Nymph, Idea leuconoe. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

butterfly with black wings covered with small blue spots. A white stripe runs down the center of the upper wings.

Starry Night Cracker, Hamadryas laodamia. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

black butterfly with many bright green spots sitting on a read flower

Tailed Jay, Graphium agamemnon. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

Many varieties of orchids started blooming in May, along with the eye-catch and fragrant voodoo lily. By June, the bright red powder puffs, perigrina and bleeding-heart vines were blooming.

Plants in the Butterfly Rainforest, including several thin branches of small yellow orchid flowers in bloom, a begonia with long deep-green leaves with a red underside and bright red flowers.

Many plants and flowers in the Butterfly Rainforest including begonias and dancing lady orchids. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

Hidden amidst the greener close to the branch of a tree is a greenish-yellow are maroon flower, single petal of the flower is white with many red spots.

Coconut scented orchids blossom. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

butterfly with long wings each wing has a wide blue band and two small white stripes.

Blue Doris, one of the many species of longwing butterflies in the Butterfly Rainforest. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

Pink orchid. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

Two large flowers, The flowers have a single peach-colored petal that wraps around the large center stamen and forms a cup shape.

Voodoo lily flowers. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

small butterfly sitting on a large green leaf. The butterfly us brown with red and white stripes.

Scarlet Peacock, Anartia amathea has a wingspan of 2-2.75 inches. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

long winged butterfly with many pale yellow-white stripes.

Zebra longwing, Heliconius charithonia. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

Cluster of red flowers and buds with rain drops handing on the edgers of the flowers.

Perigrina flowers. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

Dwarf powder puff flower. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

Cluster or white bell-shaped flowers with a small five petal red flower at the center.

When blooming the white bleeding-heart vine is easy to spot in the foliage of the Rainforest. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

fern with small leaves shaped in a found around a center point

Don’t forget to look for the small plants, like this little eyelash fern. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

Small black butterfly with this wings closed, the base of the wing is bright red and small teal blue spots are scattered across the black wings.

Atala, Eumaeus atala. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

Matchstick bromeliad flowers. Florida Museum photo by Ingrith Martinez

You can even sometimes spot little Atala butterflies, a favorite species at the Florida Museum. Researchers here at the McGuire Center focus on at-risk butterflies like this rare butterfly from South Florida. You can often spot these in our visible research labs as you walk through our indoor butterfly exhibits.

Many thanks to Ingrith for sharing her daily photos with us.