Heliconius demeter

Heliconius demeter, the Demeter longwing, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It was described by Otto Staudinger in 1897. It is found in the Northern and Eastern part of the Amazon basin, from Guyana to Northern Brazil and Peru.[1] The habitat consists of sandy rainforests.

Heliconius demeter
Dorsal view
Ventral view
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Heliconius
Species:
H. demeter
Binomial name
Heliconius demeter
Synonyms
  • Heliconius demeter f. similis Neustetter, 1931
  • Heliconius demeter var. bouqueti Nöldner, 1901
  • Heliconia xanthoceras Oberthür, 1902
  • Heliconia eueidina Oberthür, 1916
  • Eueides egeriformis Joicey & Kaye, 1917
  • Heliconia automatia Oberthür, 1925
  • Heliconius eratoformis Neustetter, 1931

The larvae are solitary and feed on Dilkea (Passifloraceae) species. Full-grown larvae have a yellow body with black spots and a black head. They reach a length of about 20 mm.[1]

Adult H. demeter are distinguished morphologically from their sister species Heliconius eratosignis because they have a yellow streak on the base of the forewing costa underside;[1] in contrast, Heliconius eratosignis has a solid orange basal costal margin on the underside of the forewing. Brown & Benson in 1975 recognized these differences but argued that the two forms were subspecies of the same species. They also recorded both Heliconius eratosignis gregarious and H. demeter solitary larvae in their paper.[2] The Tree of Life web project has yet to recognize Heliconius eratosignis as a separate species, but shows an image of a male Heliconius eratosignis from Peru under the description of H. demeter.[3]

Etymology

The species is named after the Greek goddess Demeter.[3]

Subspecies
  • H. d. demeter Staudinger, 1897 (Peru, Brazil: Amazonas)
  • H. d. angeli Neukirchen, 1997 (Peru)
  • H. d. beebei Turner, 1966 (Guyana)
  • H. d. bouqueti Nöldner, 1901 (French Guiana)
  • H. d. joroni Lamas & Rosser, 2019 (Peru)[1]
  • H. d. karinae Neukirchen, 1990 (Brazil: Pará)
  • H. d. neildi Neukirchen, 1997 (Ecuador)
  • H. d. terrasanta Brown & Benson, 1975 (Brazil: Pará)
  • H. d. titan Neukirchen, 1995 (Brazil: Amazonas)
  • H. d. turneri Brown & Benson, 1975 (Brazil: Amazonas)
  • H. d. zikani Brown & Benson, 1975 (Brazil: Amazonas)

References
  1. Rosser, Neil; Freitas, André V. L.; Huertas, Blanca; Joron, Mathieu; Lamas, Gerardo; Mérot, Claire; Simpson, Fraser; Willmott, Keith R.; Mallet, James; Dasmahapatra, Kanchon K. (2019). "Cryptic speciation associated with geographic and ecological divergence in two Amazonian Heliconius butterflies". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 186 (1): 233–249. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zly046.
  2. Brown, K.S., & Benson, W.W. 1975. The heliconians of Brazil (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VI. Aspects of the biology and ecology of Heliconius demeter with description of four new subspecies. Bulletin of the Allyn Museum 26:1-19. https://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/files/7213/9455/2950/McGuire-AME026.pdf
  3. Beltrán, Margarita. 2010. Heliconius demeter. http://tolweb.org/Heliconius_demeter/72946


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