Heliconius eleuchia

Heliconius eleuchia, the white-edged longwing,[1] is a species of Heliconius butterfly described by William Chapman Hewitson in 1853.

Heliconius eleuchia
Museum specimen
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Heliconius
Species:
H. eleuchia
Binomial name
Heliconius eleuchia
Hewitson, 1853
Synonyms
  • Heliconius primularis Butler, 1869
  • Heliconius sapho primularis ab. deflava Joicey & Kaye, 1917
  • Heliconius ceres Oberthür, 1920
  • Heliconius primularis ceres Stichel, 1923 (preocc. Oberthür, 1920)

Subspecies

Subspecies include:[2]

  • Heliconius eleuchia eleuchia - present in Costa Rica and in Colombia
  • Heliconius eleuchia eleusinus Staudinger, 1885 - present in Ecuador
  • Heliconius eleuchia primularis Butler, 1869 - present in C. in Ecuador

Distribution and habitat

This species is present Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador. It occurs in the riparian forest at an elevation up to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) above sea level.[2][3]

Description

The wingspan of Heliconius eleuchia can reach about 86 millimetres (3.4 in). These large butterflies have a slender body and long elongated front wings with a slightly concave inner edge. The basal half of the both wings is navy blue. Forewings are crossed by two yellow bands with irregular edges, running from the costal nervure to the inner angle and separating the apex from the rest of the wing. Hindwings have a large submarginal white area, crossed by black nervure. The underside presents the same ornamentation, but the forewings show a line of scarlet at the base and the hindwings have some scarlet spots in the basal area.[4]

Biology

Caterpillars feed on Passiflora macrophyllum (Passifloraceae).[2][3] The males rest on females' pupae before emergence, and mating occurs the next morning.[3]

Müllerian mimicry

H. eleuchia engages in Müllerian mimicry with H. cydno, specifically in Ecuador.[5] For this type of mimicry, species adopt one anothers' warning signals. In this case, coloring is used to warn a predator of the unpleasant taste of their intended prey. For instance, the subspecies H. cydno alithea has two potential colorings, one of which mimics the coloring of H. eleuchia.[6]

Bibliography
  • Brown, K. S. 1981 The Biology of Heliconius and Related Genera. Annual Review of Entomology 26, 427-456.
  • Hewitson, W. C. 1854 Illustrations of New Species of Exotic Butterflies: Selected Chiefly from the Collections of W. Wilson Saunders and William C. Hewitson. London, John Van Voorst.

References
  1. Butterflies of America
  2. Savela, Markku. "Heliconius Kluk, 1780". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  3. Tree of life
  4. Illustrations of New Species of Exotic Butterflies: Selected Chiefly from the Collections of W. Wilson Saunders and William C. Hewitson
  5. Beltran, Margarita; Brower, Andrew V.Z. (4 September 2008). "Heliconius cydno Doubleday 1847". The Tree of Life Web Project. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  6. Kronforst, M.R.; Papa, R. (2015). "The functional basis of wing patterning in Heliconius butterflies: The molecules behind mimicry". Genetics. 200: 1–19.
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