Jeff Smallwood Photography

"Red Cracker (Hamadryas amphinome)"

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Unfortunately the Brookside Butterfly exhibit doesn't have all of the species listed on the board, so you don't always have a way to identify the butterflies they have in the exhibit. But luckily I was able to figure this one out. Their ID board has two similar butterflies called "crackers", but neither one looked like this. Google to the rescue. Did a quick G search, found the wikipedia page on Crackers, and quickly identified this one as a Red Cracker (Hamadryas amphinome). It is native to Mexico and the Amazon region. Why is it called "red" when the wings are entirely blue? I don't have a photo of it, but the underside of the hindwing is brick red.