Heliconius comprises a colorful and widespread genus of brush-footed butterflies commonly known as the longwings or heliconians. This genus is distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the New World, from South America as far north as the southern United States. The larvae of these butterflies eat passion flower vines (Passifloraceae). Adults exhibit bright wing color patterns which signal their distastefulness to potential predators.
Brought to the forefront of scientific attention by Victorian naturalists, these butterflies exhibit a striking diversity and mimicry, both amongst themselves and with species in other groups of butterflies and moths. The study of Heliconius and other groups of mimetic butterflies allowed the English naturalist Henry Walter Bates, following his return from Brazil in 1859, to lend support to Charles Darwin, who had found similar diversity amongst the Galápagos finches.
species. Molecular work on two distantly related Heliconius comimics, Heliconius melpomene and Heliconius erato, has revealed that homologous genomic regions...
to Heliconius charithonia. Wikispecies has information related to Heliconius charithonia. Bartlett, Troy (November 18, 2016). "Species Heliconius charithonia...
Heliconius erato, or the red postman, is one of about 40 neotropical species of butterfly belonging to the genus Heliconius. It is also commonly known...
Margarita (2010) Heliconius ethilla Godart 1819. The Tree of Life Web Project Wikimedia Commons has media related to Heliconius ethilla. Heliconius ethilla in...
interactions make Heliconius and Passiflora a model system for studies of coevolution. Unlike most other butterflies, several Heliconius species have been...
length of about 8 mm. Heliconius ricini ricini (northern South America) Heliconius ricini insulanus (Stichel, 1909) (Trinidad) Heliconius ricini at Markku...
related to Heliconius cydno. Wikispecies has information related to Heliconius cydno. Beltrán, Margarita and Andrew V. Z. Brower. 2008. "Heliconius cydno Doubleday...
S2CID 90662480. Heliconius hermathena etymology Wikispecies has information related to Heliconius hermathena. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Heliconius hermathena...
(3.5 in). Hybridisation of Heliconius pardalinus and Heliconius melpomene resulted in the hybrid speciation of Heliconius elevatus. The specific epithet...
Heliconius atthis, the false zebra longwing or Atthis longwing, is a species of Heliconius butterfly. It is endemic to western Ecuador. Is a mimic of the...
with Heliconius sara, Heliconius wallacei and Heliconius doris. The larvae are gregarious and feed on Dilkea and Mitostemma species. Heliconius metharme...
Heliconius eleuchia, the white-edged longwing, is a species of Heliconius butterfly described by William Chapman Hewitson in 1853. Subspecies include:...
reduced proboscis or maxillary palps and do not feed as adults. Many Heliconius butterflies also use their proboscis to feed on pollen; in these species...
media related to Heliconius hecale. Hecale longwing Archived 2007-07-15 at the Wayback Machine, Neotropical Butterflies Heliconius hecale at Markku Savela's...
dung and of adaptations to the use of pollen as complementary food in Heliconius butterflies. An extremely long proboscis appears within different groups...
because it is difficult to distinguish from Heliconius erato (as well as from its sister species Heliconius demeter). H. e. eratosignis (Joicey & Talbot...
Heliconius aoede, the Aoede longwing, is a species of butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It was described by Jacob Hübner in 1813. It is found in the...
sister species Heliconius eratosignis because they have a yellow streak on the base of the forewing costa underside; in contrast, Heliconius eratosignis...
Commons has media related to Heliconius hecalesia. Wikispecies has information related to Heliconius hecalesia. Heliconius hecalesia at Markku Savela's...
(March 24, 2019). "Heliconius lalitae Brévignon, 1996". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved February 5, 2020. "Heliconius lalitae Brévignon...
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