CONTEXTS - The Rough Guide to Panama - page 449

Insects and arachnids
Although insects don't generally set the pulse racing, butterflies are the exception. With six-
teen thousand species, Panama hosts approximately ten percent of the world's Lepidoptera,
from the enormous owl butterfly , so-called after the large “eyes” on its mottled brown wings,
to the tiny delicate glasswing , whose translucent wings are reminiscent of a stained-glass
window. Most magnificent of all, is the iridescent blue morpho , whose drunken zigzagged
flight makes it particularly hard to photograph.
Ants can be found in abundance; tiny Isla Barro Colorado alone has 225 species. Most
distinctive are the packed highways of industrious leafcutter ants bearing enormous seg-
ments of leaf to their vast underground complex, where they are pulped to cultivate a “fungus
garden”, which in turn feeds the ants. Also easy to spot is the enormous black bullet ant ;
the size of a large grape and prevalent in low-lying forests, it holds the dubious distinction of
causing the world's most painful insect sting.
Panama also possesses over a thousand species of spider , a fair proportion of which are
poisonous though rarely lethal to humans. One such is the innocuous-sounding wandering
spider - until you realize its scientific name derives from the Greek for “murderous” ( pho-
neutes ) - which is a hairy arachnid that stalks the forest floor at night rather than ambushing
prey in a web or lair. It is often mistaken for the stockier, hairier and relatively harmless black
tarantula ; also a night-time predator, it can be seen poking out of its lair, in a hollowed-out
log or semi-submerged under leaf litter, during the day. Worth avoiding is the female black
widow spider ; recognizable by the glossy black abdomen and red hourglass mark on the un-
derbelly, she has a potent venom with which to inject her prey. The golden silk orb-weaving
spider makes the largest web; a magical sight on a sunlit morning in the rainforest, it really
does glisten like gold thread.
Marine life
With coastlines on two oceans, Panama's marine biodiversity is impressive, especially
where warm ocean currents and upwellings of cool nutrient-rich waters converge along the
Pacific's Golfo de Chiriquí. Humpback whales calve in this area (July-Oct) and can also
be sighted off the Pearl Islands and the tip of the Azuero Peninsula. These 15m giants are
exciting to behold though whale-watching in Panama is in its infancy. Earlier in the year
(Feb-July), you may be lucky enough to catch sight of the gargantuan but placid whale
shark , the world's largest fish, as it moves submarine-like through the waters round Coiba.
Hammerhead and tiger sharks are occasionally spotted though white-tipped reef sharks are
more common. The distinctive black and white killer whales , or orcas - actually the world's
largest dolphin - prey on younger and weaker marine mammals, but aren't as widespread as
bottle-nosed dolphins. From October to December schools of diamond-shaped golden rays