Heliconius charithonia

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Description

Family Nymphalidae

'The Nymphalidae are members of the Superfamily Papilionoidea, the true butterflies. Distributed worldwide, butterflies of this family are especially rich in the tropics. They are highly variable, and there are more species in this family than in any other. Adults vary in size from small to large, and their front legs are reduced, unable to be used for walking. Wing shape is also highly variable: some species have irregular margins (anglewings and commas), and others have long taillike projections (daggerwings). Browns, oranges, yellows, and blacks are frequent colors, while iridescent colors such as purples and blues are rare. Adults of some groups are the longest-lived butterflies, surviving 6-11 months. Adult feeding behavior depends on the species, where some groups primarily seek flower nectar while others only feed on sap flows , rotting fruit, dung, or animal carcasses. Males exhibit perching and patrolling behaviors when seeking mates. Egg-laying varies widely, as some species lay eggs in clustsers, others in columns, and others singly. Caterpillar appearance and behavior vary widely. Brushfoots overwinter as larvae or adults.

'[1]

Subfamily Heliconiinae

Longwings are members of the Family Nymphalidae. They are richest in the tropics, but several genera are prominent in the Northern Hermisphere, including the fritillaries or silverspots and the lesser fritillaries. The adults of several species are distasteful, and many other species mimic the distasteful butterflies of this subfamily . Adults are long-lived, with some as long as six months. Males patrol in search of females. The adults of genus Heliconius are unique in that they intentionally collect pollen in their proboscis and then absorb its proteins.[2]

Physical Description

Habitat

Tropical hammocks , moist forests , edges , fields .

Most likely to be seen around the margins of maritime forests and thickets near the coast (its usual habitat in FL ). It can occur in wooded residential areas and gardens (where of uncertain origin ). Not likely in wide open habitats such as fields. (ref. 104685)

Biology

Diet

Caterpillar hosts: Passion-vines including Passiflora suberosa, P. lutea, and P. affinis . Adult food: Flower nectar and pollen, which are gathered on a set foraging route or "trap-line". Favorite plants include lantana and shepherd's needle .

Foodplants are passion-flower (Passiflora) species. Females were seen ovipositing on both P. lutea and P. incarnata at Fort Macon State Park in 2008. The Zebra Heliconian has been reported as nectaring on butterfly-bush (Buddleia) in gardens in NC, and it nectars on lantana in SC and perhaps in NC. (ref. 104685)

Adult food: Flower nectar and pollen, which are gathered on a set foraging route or "trap-line". Favorite plants include lantana and shepherd's needle. (ref. 105854)

Reproduction

Males patrol for females, and are also attracted to female chrysalids. A male will wait on the chrysalis and mate with the female as she is about to emerge . He then deposits on her abdomen a chemical than repels other males. Eggs are laid in groups of 5-15 on leaf buds or leaves of the host plant; caterpillars feed at night on leaves. Adults roost communally in groups of 25-30 individuals.

Behavior

The Zebra longwing's flight is slow and feeble, although it can put on a burst of speed if needed to escape a predator . These butterflies form communal roosts at night. It is thought such conglomerations provide protection via strength of numbers; predators can only take so many.

Flight: All year in South Texas and southern Florida, wanders north during warmer months.

Flight period: The dates fall between June (undated record ) and mid-November, though most sightings are from mid-August into November. (ref. 104685)

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Similar Species

Members of the genus Heliconius

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 26 species and subspecies in this genus:

H. antiochus (Anitochus Longwing) · H. charithonia (Zebra) · H. charithonia charithonia (Zebra Butterfly) · H. charithonia tuckeri (Zebra Longwing) · H. clysonimus (Passionvine Butterfly) · H. clysonymus (Clysonymus Longwing) · H. cydno (Blue and White Longwing) · H. doris (Doris Longwing) · H. eleuchia (Eleuchia Longwing Butterfly) · H. erato (Crimson Patched) · H. hecale (Tiger Longwing) · H. hecale zuleika (Hecale Longwing) · H. hecale zuleika f. albipunctata (Hecale Longwing) · H. hermathena (Hermathona Heliconian) · H. hortense (Mountain Longwing) · H. ismenius (Ismenius Tiger) · H. melpomene (Postman) · H. melpomene rosina (Tragic Longwing) · H. melpomene xenoclea (Xenoclea Longwing) · H. nattereri (Natterer's Longwing) · H. numata (Numata Longwing) · H. procula (Acting Longwing) · H. sara (Sara Longwing Butterfly) · H. sara fulgidus (Sara's Longwing) · H. telesiphe (Telesiphe Longwing) · H. wallacei (Wallace's Longwing)

More Info

• Search for Pictures: images.google.com
• Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
• Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Further Reading

• A hand-book to the order Lepidoptera. By W.F. Kirby. .. London, E. Lloyd, limited, 1896-1897. url p. 41.
• A handbook to the order Lepidoptera. By W. F. Kirby. London, E. Lloyd, limited, 1896-1897. url p. 41.
• A year of Costa Rican natural history, by Amelia Smith Calvert. .. and Philip Powell Calvert. .. with maps and illustrations. New York, The Macmillan company, 1917. url p. 218, p. 552.
• Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, -1965. url p. 433.
• Bibliography (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) / Charles A. Bridges. Urbana, Ill.: C.A. Bridges, c1993. url p. 335.
• Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society. Brooklyn, N.Y.: The Society, url p. 182, p. 24, p. 26.
• Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College. 78 1935 Cambridge, Mass.: The Museum, 1863- url p. 157.
• Entomological news. [Philadelphia]American Entomological Society, 1925- url p. 179, p. 225, p. 261.
• Genera insectorum / publiés par P. Wytsman. Bruxelles, L. Desmet-Verteneuil [etc.]1902-1970. url p. 48, p. 49, p. 65, p. 70.
• Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.] url p. 146.
• The Entomologist's monthly magazine. Oxford [etc.]Entomologist's Monthly Magazine Ltd. [etc.] url , p. 118, p. 70, p. 71.
• The Entomologist's record and journal of variation. s.l., s.n. url p. 91.
• The Entomologist. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., [1877- url , p. 215, p. 215, p. 317.
• The Florida buggist: official organ of the Florida Entomological Society. [Gainesville, Fla.]: The Society, [1917-1920] url p. 122.
• The Hope reports. Oxford: Printed for private circulation, 1897-1958. url p. 42, p. 625.
• The Macrolepidoptera of the world; a systematic description of the hitherto known Macrolepidoptera, ed. in collaboration with well-known specialists. Stuttgart: Seitz'schen (Kernen), 1906- url p. 394.
• The social life of animals, by W.C. Allee. .. New York, W.W. Norton & Company, inc.[c1938] url p. 282.
• Transactions of the Entomological Society of London. London, The Society. url p. 119, p. 133, p. 42, p. 42, p. 571, p. 571, p. 625, p. 627.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 9, 2012.
• Butterflies of North Carolina
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 18, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from provider.
• LepIndex: The Global Lepidoptera Names Index
• Marlin, Bruce. CirrusImage.com.
• NatureServe. 2003. Downloadable animal data sets. NatureServe Central Databases. Accessed February 6, 2005.
• Opler, Paul A., Harry Pavulaan, Ray E. Stanford, Michael Pogue, coordinators. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: Mountain Prairie Information Node. March 26, 2007.
• Opler, Paul A., Kelly Lotts, and Thomas Naberhaus, coordinators. 2009. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: Big Sky Institute. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ (Version of April 17, 2009).
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 26, 2008:

• Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (Costa Rica): Biodiversidad de Costa Rica

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2961619
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Lep-152433.0
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: IILEPJ4010
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 172096

Footnotes

1. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/taxonomy?f=18&sci=Nymphalidae&com=Brush-footed Butterflies [back]
2. http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=Freija&search=Search [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.