Heliconius wallacei

Heliconius wallacei, the Wallace's longwing, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It was described by Tryon Reakirt in 1866. It is found from Venezuela and Trinidad to southern Brazil and Peru. The habitat consists of lowland rainforests.[2]

Wallace's longwing
Dorsal view
Ventral view
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Heliconius
Species:	H. wallacei
Binomial name
Heliconius wallacei (Reakirt, 1866)[1]
Synonyms
Heliconius clytia ab. parvimaculata Riffarth, 1900 Heliconius clytia f. flavescens ab. wucherpfennigi Krüger, 1933 Heliconius wallacei ab. erichi Krüger, 1933 Heliconius mimulinus Butler, 1873 Heliconius clytia var. colon Weymer, 1891 Heliconius clytia var. sulphurea Staudinger, [1897] Heliconius hagar Kirby, [1900] Heliconius wallacei f. quadrimaculata Neustetter, 1925 Heliconius clytia f. flavescens ab. graphitica Krüger, 1933 Heliconius wallacei f. inez Stammeshaus, 1982 Heliconius clytia var. colon Weymer, 1891 Papilio clytia Cramer, 1776 (preocc. Linnaeus, 1758) Heliconius clytia var. elsa Riffarth, 1899 Heliconius wallacei brevimaculata ab. halli Kaye, 1919 Heliconius wallacei latus Kaye, 1925 (preocc. Riffarth, 1900)

The wingspan is 70–75 mm.[3]

The larvae are gregarious and mostly feed on Passiflora species from the subgenus Distephana. Full-grown larvae have a maroon body and a brown head and reach a length of about 10 mm.[4]

Subspecies

• H. w. wallacei (Brazil: Pará)
• H. w. araguaia Brown, 1976 (Brazil: Goiás)
• H. w. colon Weymer, 1891 (Surinam, Brazil: Amazonas)
• H. w. flavescens Weymer, 1891 (Ecuador, Peru, Guyana, Bolivia)
• H. w. kayei Neustetter, 1929 (Trinidad)
• H. w. mimulinus Butler, 1873 (Colombia)

References

1. Heliconius wallacei at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
2. Heliconius wallacei in learnaboutbutterflies
3. Parque Nacional Sangay (Ecuador)
4. TOL