Pink/Transandean Cattleheart Butterfly Parides iphidamas

The Pink Cattleheart Butterfly, also called the Transandean Cattleheart, is found from Mexico to Peru. It looks similar to several other of the Cattleheart family of Swallowtail butterflies. The male, above left, has broader, shorter white patches on the topside and may have a bluish sheen by the body. The female, above right, may have a more salmon-coloured red bar.

It looks particularly similar to the Arcas Cattleheart, Parides arcas, but the Arcas has pink edging rather than white and has five pink spots on the underside hind wing rather than six.

More male Pink or Transandean Cattleheart topsides with broad, white patches often shaded with grey. (The Arcas has a broader white patch, clear or bluish.)

More female Pink or Transandean Cattleheart topsides with longer, narrower, clear white patches and slightly more orange-red hind wing bar.

Although part of the larger Swallowtail group, many of the Cattleheart (Parides genus) butterflies, including the Transandean, do not have tails.

Caterpillars feed mainly on pipevines, making them and the adult butterfly toxic to predators - hence the warning red spots on the body.