This is a list of butterflies of the Cayman Islands. According to a recent estimate, there are 52 butterfly species found on the Cayman Islands. The abbreviation (Es) is used to indicate endemic subspecies.
Papilionidae Battus polydamas cubensis (Dufrane, 1946) – Polydamas swallowtail Heraclides andraemon andraemon (Hübner, 1823) – Andraemon swallowtail Heraclides andraemon tailori (Rothschild & Jordan, 1906) – Grand Cayman swallowtail (Es) Heraclides aristodemus (Esper, 1794) – dusky swallowtail
Pieridae
Abaeis nicippe (Cramer, 1779) – black bordered orange, sleepy orange Anteos maerula (Fabricius, 1775) – yellow angled sulphur Aphrissa orbis (Poey, 1832) – orbed sulphur Aphrissa statira cubana (D'Almeida, 1939) – migrant sulphur Ascia monuste eubotea (Godart, 1819) – great southern white Eurema daira palmira (Godart, 1819) – barred sulphur Eurema elathea (Cramer, 1777) – false barred sulphur Glutophrissa drusilla poeyi (Butler, 1872) – Florida white Nathalis iole (Boisduval, 1836) – dainty sulphur, dwarf yellow Phoebis agarithe antillia (Brown, 1929) – giant orange sulphur Phoebis argante (Fabricius, 1775) – apricot sulphur, Argante giant sulphur Phoebis philea (Linnaeus, 1763) – orange-barred sulphur Phoebis sennae sennae (Linnaeus, 1758) – cloudless sulphur Pyrisitia lisa euterpe (Ménétriés, 1832) – little sulphur Pyrisitia messalina (Fabricius, 1787) – shy yellow Pyrisitia nise nise (Cramer, 1775) – mimosa sulphur, blacktip sulphur
Nymphalidae Nymphalinae
Anaea troglodyta cubana (Fabricius, 1775) – Cuban red leaf butterfly, troglodyte Anartia jatrophae jamaicensis (Möshler, 1886) – white peacock Euptoieta hegesia hegesia (Cramer, 1779) Hamadryas amphichloe (Boisduval, 1870) – Haitian cracker, click butterfly Hypolimnas misippus (Linnaeus, 1764) – mimic Junonia evarete (Cramer, 1779) – mangrove buckeye Junonia genoveva (Cramer, 1780) – Caribbean buckeye, tropical buckeye Marpesia chiron (Fabricius, 1775) – many-banded daggerwing Marpesia eleuchea (Hübner, 1818) – Antillean ruddy daggerwing Memphis verticordia danielana (Witt, 1972) – Cayman brown leaf butterfly (Es) Phyciodes phaon (W.H.Edwards, 1864) – Cayman crescent spot Phyciodes tharos (Drury, ) Siproeta stelenes bilagiata (Fruhstorfer, 1907) – malachite Vanessa cardui (Linnaeus, 1758) – painted lady
Danainae
Danaus eresimus tethys (Cramer, 1777) – soldier Danaus gilippus berenice (Cramer, 1775) – queen Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus, 1758) – monarch
Satyrinae Calisto herophile (Hübner, 1823) – ringlet
Heliconiinae
Agraulis vanillae insularis (Maynard, 1889) – Gulf fritillary Dryas iulia zoe (Miller & Steinhauser, 1992) – Julia, flambeau (Es) Heliconius charitonius (Linnaeus, 1767) – zebra
Lycaenidae
Brephidium exilis thompsoni (Carpenter & Lewis, 1943) – pygmy blue (Es) Chlorostrymon maesites (Henrrich-Schäffer, 1864) – amethyst hairstreak Cyclargus ammon erembis Nabokov, 1948 – Lucas's blue (Es) Electrostrymon angelia (Hewitson, 1874) – fulvous hairstreak Eumaeus atala (Poey, 1832) – Atala Hemiargus hanno filenus (Poey, 1832) – Hanno blue Leptoptes cassius theonus (Lucas, 1857) – Cassius blue Strymon acis (Drury, 1773) – Drury's hairstreak Strymon istapa (Reakirt, 1867) – Hewitson's hairstreak Strymon martialis (Henrrich-Schäffer, 1865) – Cuban grey hairstreak
Hesperiidae
Asbolis capucinus (Lucas, 1857) – monk Atalopedes mesogramma (Latreille, 1824) – striped skipper Calpodes ethlius (Stoll, 1782) – canna skipper, Brazilian skipper Cymaenes tripuntus (Henrrich-Schäffer, 1865) – three spot skipper Hylephila phyleus (Drury, 1773) – fiery skipper Panoquina lucas (Fabricius, 1793) – purple-washed skipper, sugar cane skipper Panoquina ocala (W. H. Edwards, 1863) – Ocala skipper Panoquina panoquinoides (Skinner, 1891) – obscure skipper Phocides pigmalion batabano (Lucas, 1857) – mangrove skipper Urbanus dorantes santiago (Lucas, 1857) – Dorantes skipper Urbanus proteus domingo (Scudder, 1872) – long-tailed skipper
References R. R. Askew and P. A. van B. Stafford, Butterflies of the Cayman Islands (Apollo Books, Stenstrup 2008) Cayman Butterflies