Species List – Costa Rica

 

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Crustaceans        Arachnids        Insects        Amphibians        Reptiles        Mammals        Birds

 

 

Costa Rica, a small Central American nation roughly the size of Scotland, is estimated to house around 5% of the world's animal and plant species, many of them found nowhere else. The country is especially well-known for its prolific and highly visible bird life, and for large marine fauna including hammerhead sharks that gather around the offshore Cocos Islands. The country is well-represented in less iconic wildlife groups. For instance, there are around 400 species of amphibians and reptiles. The country's diversity in so many wildlife groups has been attributed to its position between the major biogeographic realms of North and South America; on land, species from both continental faunas are represented, while at sea the wildlife of both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans can be found in Costa Rican waters.

 

Costa Rica has long been hailed as a conservationist's paradise. It contains one of the most extensive and best-managed protected area networks in the world, and one of the world's best-known ecological research facilities at La Selva. At the same time, timber extraction remains a major threat in the highly diverse southern region of the country, and has been calculated that Costa Rica's reserve system has only reduced deforestation by around 10% since the 1960s, when the first national park was established. Monteverde was at one time renowned for its biodiversity; since the 1980s this site has become a symbol of both the amphibian decline crisis and loss of biodiversity more generally: mammals, reptiles and insects are also more scarce on the mountain than they used to be. This decline has been blamed in part on a rising cloud layer that has resulted in less moisture reaching the forest floor, and this has been attributed to both strong El Nino events and ongoing climate change. It has, however, been argued that a better-understood and potentially more easily remedied factor is to blame: disruption to the water cycle caused by the destruction of unprotected lowland rainforest below the mountain.

 

CRUSTACEANS

 

Costa Rica has over 110 species of marine decapod (crabs, shrimps and lobsters), making them among the country's major marine animal groups. On land, Halloween crabs (Gecarcinus quadratus) (pictured) are commonly encountered in lowland forest on the Pacific coast. These crabs are an important influence structuring coastal forest ecosystems through their role as seed predators, resulting in a gradient of forest types that provide habitats for a wide variety of other wildlife.

 

 

Halloween Crab

Gecarcinus quadratus

 

 

ARACHNIDS

 

 

Costa Rica has several notable species of tarantula, among them the red-kneed tarantula (Brachypelma smithi) familiar from pet shops. More than 1,800 species of arachnid are known from the country as a whole, including potentially undescribed members of the black widow family (Theridiidae).

 

 

 

 

Red-kneed Tarantula	Brachypelma smithii
Golden Silk Spider	Nephila clavipes

 

 

INSECTS

 

 

In total, some 34,000 described species of insect are known from Costa Rica, with many undescribed forms known. There are about 1,250 species of butterfly in Costa Rica, a little less than twice the number in the continental United States, among them several large, electric blue Morpho species. The Hercules beetle (Dynastes hercules), said to be the world's heaviest insect, and several species of both leafcutter and legionnaire (army) ants are also among the nation's charismatic insect inhabitants. Over 8,000 species of moths are known from the country, and it is also home to the world's largest living odonate, the damselfly Megaloprepus caeruleata, which has a wingspan of 191 mm and a body length of 120 mm.

 

 

 

Saturniid Moth	Rothschildia triloba
Monarch Butterfly	Danaus plexippus
Blue Morpho	Morpho peleides
Julia Longwing	Dryas iulia

 

 

AMPHIBIANS

 

Costa Rica boasts a well-studied, large amphibian fauna of over 170 species, more than 40 of them endemic to the country.. The country rang early alarm bells following reports that several formerly abundant species of amphibians had disappeared from Monteverde National Park in the early 1990s. It has since been discovered that amphibian populations are declining catastrophically worldwide, but the loss of over 20 species from Monteverde in the space of a few years remains one of the most extreme examples of this trend. Known only from Monteverde, the golden toad (Incilius, formerly Bufo, periglenes) is thought to be extinct, having not been seen for almost twenty years. This species had become a national icon following its discovery in 1966; several other missing species have been rediscovered in other locations.

 

Cane Toad	Rhinella marina
Strawberry Poison Dart Frog	Oophaga pumilio
Green-and-black Poison Dart Frog	Dendrobates auratus

 

 

REPTILES

 

There are over 200 species of reptile in Costa Rica, ranging in size from the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) to species of anole (small lizards of trees, shrubs and modified habitats). The country's coast forms part of an internationally important series of marine turtle nesting beaches, and the country's first national park was created to protect this habitat. Lizards are a common sight throughout the country; ctenosaurs (Ctenosaura simlis) frequent tourist resorts and even take scraps of food that diners drop. Basilisks, famous for the male's large crests and their habit of running on water, can be abundant (three of the world's four species occur in Costa Rica), and whiptails with brightly-coloured flanks and limbs (genus Ameiva) are often active among  forest leaf litter.

 

Common Slider	Trachemys scripta scripta
Black River Turtle	Rhinoclemmys funerea
Green Basilisk	Basiliscus plumifrons
Brown Basilisk	Basiliscus basiliscus
Ctenosaur	Ctenosaura similis
Middle American Ameiva	Ameiva festiva
Spectacled Caiman	Caiman crocodylus
American Crocodile	Crocodylus acutus

 

 

MAMMALS

 

Costa Rica has about 200 species of mammal, a little less than 5% of the world total. Prior to human occupation, this total would likely have been somewhat higher, and is in any case surprisingly high when taking into account the Neotropical zone's relatively depauperate marine mammal fauna. Jaguars and tapirs may still persist in relatively large numbers in some of the country's larger reserves. Although Costa Rica lacks other large land mammals, there are numerous species of smaller cat, 100 species of bat, two of sloth, and three native monkeys, the black howler, white-faced capuchin and woolly spider monkey. A fourth, the squirrel monkey, is a relatively recent introduction from Brazil and has a more restricted distribution in the country.

 

Agouti	Dasyprocta leporina
Coati	Nasua nasua
Tayra	Eira barbara
White-faced Capuchin	Cebus capucinus
Woolly Spider Monkey	Brachyteles arachnoides
Black Howler Monkey	Alouatta caraya

 

 

BIRDS

 

 With 830 species, more than the entirety of continental North America north of Mexico, Costa Rica has a strong claim to possess the most diverse bird fauna of any similarly-sized country in the world. These include many colourful and charismatic species; one of the largest populations of scarlet macaws (Ara macao) in Central America, the rare great green macaw (Ara ambiguus), several species of toucan, numerous hummingbirds and, most famously, the bright turquoise-and-red resplendent quetzal (Pharomacrus moccino), largest member of the trogon family whose feathers were once prized as a mark of status among indigenous populations through much of Central America.

 

Highland Tinamou	Nothocecus bonapartei
Brown Pelican	Pelecanus occidentalis
Brown Booby	Sula leucogaster
Olivaceous Cormorant	Phalacrocorax olivanceus
Anhinga	Anhinga anhinga
Magnificent Frigatebird	Fregata magnificens
Bare-throated Tiger Heron	Tigrisoma mexicana
Boat-billed Heron	Cochlearius cochlearius
Cattle Egret	Bubulcus incus
Green Heron	Butorides viridiscens
Little Blue Heron	Egretta caerulea
Snowy Egret	Egretta thula
Great Egret	Casmerodius albus
Green Ibis	Mesembrinitis cayennensis
Roseate Spoonbill	Ajaia ajaja
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck	Dendrocygna autumnalis
Turkey Vulture	Cathartes aura
Osprey	Pandion haliaetus
White Hawk	Leucopternis albicollis
Common Blackhawk	Buteogallus anthracinus
Short-tailed Hawk	Buteo brachyurus
Zone-tailed Hawk	Buteo albonotatus
Limpkin	Aramus guaraunca
Sungrebe	Heliornis fulica
Northern Jacana	Jacana spinosa
Spotted Sandpiper	Actitis macularia
Scarlet Macaw	Ara macao
Mealy Parrot	Amazona farinosa
Red-lored Parrot	Amazona autumnalis
Little Hermit	Phaethornis longuemarcus
Scaly-breasted Hummingbird	Phaeochroa cuvierii
Violet Sabrewing	Campylopterus hemileucurus
Brown Violet-ear	Colibri delphinae
Green Violet-ear	Colibri thalassinus
Green-breasted Mango	Anthracothorax prevostii
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird	Amazinia tzacatl
Green-crowned Brilliant	Heliodoxa jacula
Magenta-throated Woodstar	Calliphlox bryangtae
Resplendent Quetzal	Pharomacrus mocinno
Slaty-tailed Trogon	Trogon massena
Black-headed Trogon	Trogon melanocephalus
Violaceous Trogon	Trogon violaceus
Ringed Kingfisher	Ceryle torquata
Blue-crowned Motmot	Momotus momota
Swainson's/Chestnut-billed Toucan	Rhamphastos swainsonii
Keel-billed Toucan	Rhamphastos sulfuratus
Pale-billed Woodpecker	Campephilus guatemalensis
Long-tailed Woodcreeper	Deconychura longicauda
Spotted Woodcreeper	Xiphorhynchus erythropygius
Blue-crowned Manakin	Pipra coronata
Tropical Kingbird	Tyrannus melancholicus
Golden-bellied Flycatcher	Myiodynastes hemichrysus
Social Flycatcher	Myiozetetes similis
Great Kiskadee	Pitangus sulphuratus
Tufted Flycather	Mitrephanes phaeocercus
Yellow-bellied Elaenia	Elaenia flavogaster
Blue-and-white Swallow	Notiochelidon cyanoleuca
Brown Jay	Cyanocorax morio
Riverside Wren	Thyrothorus semibadius
Clay-coloured Robin	Turdus grayi
Sooty Robin	Turdus nigrescens
Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush	Catharus mexicanus
Buff-rumped Warbler	Phaeothlypis fulvicauda
Montezuma Oropendola	Psarocolius montezuma
Scarlet-rumped Cacique	Cacicus uropygialis
Giant Cowbird	Scaphidura oryzivora
Long-tailed Grackle	Quiscalus mexicanus
Nicaraguan Grackle	Quiscalus nicaraguensis
Baltimore Oriole	Icterus galbula galbula
Scarlet-rumped Tanager	Ramphocelus passerinii
Yellow-thighed Finch	Pselliophorus tibialis
Rufous-collared Sparrow	Zonotrichia capensis