Owl Butterfly

Giant Owl/ Cocoa Mort Bleu

Caligo Sp. (memnon, euphorbus, idomeneus, eurilochus, etc.)

The enormous Owl butterfly has a brown underside with false "eye" spots to deter predators. With wings spread open and hanging on a twig to flash its underside, it mimics an owl's head.

There are some 20 species of Owl butterfly (20 caligo species), all from forests of Latin America, large with brown-coloured underside wings which they rarely open at rest and which have a large "eye-spot" and iridiscent blue/mauve/purple on the topside. Variation is mainly apparent in topside colouring.

A sneak view of the topside

Size comparison: owl with morpho, clipper and giant eggfly butterflies (and banana)

Size comparison: owl with morpho, diadem and large banana

This  Owl is the "Pale Owl" (Caligo memnon) which, as its name suggests, has a more pale upperside than some of the other Owls (Euphorbus Giant Owl, Forest Giant Owl, etc)

This is a faded "Forest Giant Owl" (Caligo eurilochus), a medium blue species, although its faded form is near to the Pale Owl. Other Caligo species can be darker, more widespread purple.