Clarissa is a gorgeous blue-green Clipper Butterfly, scientifically named Parthenos sylvia…
I didn’t know her from Eve when I photographed her—and didn’t post her photo for months because I was embarrassed that I couldn’t identify her…
Until I learned an incredible secret available to anyone with an iPhone or iPad! It’s an app called Leps by Fieldguide, and remember that name because you’ll never find it by searching the store for “Butterfly Guide!”
I had been searching in vain for a great online butterfly field guide. Finally I Googled the Web for “Best Lepidoptera Guide” and up it popped, justly rated five stars.
Leps by Guide turns out to be a crowdsourced project and the documentation isn’t terrific. I didn’t learn its awesome secret until it asked me to upload a photo. So I volunteered Clarissa and —tada! In about fifteen seconds it produced a matching photo uploaded by somebody else and identified many times over as Clipper, Parthenonos sylvia.
Magic! I repeated the trick over and over, for every UFBC (unidentified flying butterflyish creature) that I’d photographed of late.
So prepare to see a number of additional butterflies, each properly identified. And do leave a COMMENT and LIKE please, telling Clarissa if you think she’s beautiful. She likes to know.
