Heliconius telesiphe

Heliconius telesiphe, the telesiphe longwing, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It was described by Edward Doubleday in 1847. It is found at mid-elevations in the Andes. Its habitat is cloud forests.

Telesiphe longwing
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Heliconius
Species:
H. telesiphe
Binomial name
Heliconius telesiphe
(Doubleday, 1847)
Synonyms
  • Heliconia telesiphe Doubleday, 1847
  • Heliconius sotericus Salvin, 1871
  • Heliconius telesiphe ab. nivea Kaye, 1916

The wingspan is 65–80 mm.[1] The species is part of a mimicry complex with Podotricha telesiphe.

The larvae mostly feed on Passiflora species from the subgenus Plectostemma.[2] This species assisted in the 1993 discovery of Passiflora telesiphe, a species in the subgenus Decaloba.[3]

Subspecies
  • Heliconius telesiphe telesiphe (Bolivia)
  • Heliconius telesiphe cretacea Neustetter, 1916 (Peru)
  • Heliconius telesiphe sotericus Salvin, 1871 (Ecuador, Peru)

References
  1. Heliconius telesiphe telesiphe. Inventory of the Butterflies of Sangay National Park (Ecuador)
  2. Heliconius telesiphe. Tree of Life Web Project.
  3. Knapp, S., and J. Mallet. 1998. A New Species of Passiflora (Passifloraceae) from Ecuador with notes on the natural history of its herbivore, Heliconius (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Heliconiiti). Novon 162-166.


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