Exactly how these two Heliconius butterflies remain separate species is still something of a mystery. Zebra Longwings lay eggs on passion vine that is growing in the shade or in the open on a cloudy day. They are also famous for Müllerian mimicry, with many species converging on a common wing pattern where they live together. Hence, there may be several, distinct mimetic phenotypes in any given area, all of which impose strong stabilizing selection on participating taxa. Heliconius butterflies display bright warning patterns, which they also use to recognize conspecifics. The Heliconius sara has a blue metallic shine!

Egg: Yellow, ribbed, and elongated. Butterfly: Wingspan: 3 - 3½ inches (7.4 - 8.9 cm). Found primarily in Gulf Coast states and the Carolinas, they prefer shadier area over bright sunny locations. The Heliconius butterflies are the most speciose genus within the Heliconiini, displaying a dramatic diversity of colour patterns at species and sub-species level. Heliconius s. sara (TYPE of Heliconius rhea ab. albinea Riffarth, 1899, TL: Surinam) Photo taken by Gerardo Lamas and digitized by the Tropical Andean Butterfly Diversity Project, funded by the Darwin Initiative. All Heliconius species have long black wings bearing simple but striking patterns, typically featuring streaks or patches of red and cream, or blue and cream. Here, we couple QTL for divergence in visual preference behaviours with population genomic and gene expression analyses of neural tissue (central brain, optic lobes and ommatidia) across development in two sympatric Heliconius species. The players: The Passionvine: Passiflora pittieri is one of the rarer passionflower species in Belize.It occurs from Belize southward into South America The butterfly: Heliconius sapho is black and white but has a blue metalic sheen when seen under the right lighting conditions. Closed wings are also black-and- yellow striped and also contain small red basal spots. Any use of this image, except for personal study, … Generally laid in small clusters on new growth and tendrils of host plant. Several including hecale have subspecies which mimic 'tiger complex' orange and black Ithomiines. Introduction. The butterflies that you receive may be slightly different in size, shape or color than the butterflies in the picture. They lay eggs primarily on tendrils and the…

Heliconius butterflies participate in diverse but often coexisting mimicry rings (groups of species that converge on the same warning phenotype). Elongated black wings with yellow stripes. What is really interesting about this species is … This is video of two Red Postman butterflies (Heliconius erato) mating on our farm in central Costa Rica. Zebra Longwing butterflies are also called Zebra Heliconian butterflies. ID Tip: Black and yellow stripes on elongated forewings.