Heliconius Erato, Red Postman Butterfly

by Venetia Featherstone-Witty

Title

Heliconius Erato, Red Postman Butterfly

Artist

Venetia Featherstone-Witty

Medium

Photograph - Photographs

Description

Heliconius erato, the red postman, is one of about 40 Neotropical species of butterfly belonging to the genus Heliconius. It is also commonly known as the small postman, the red passion flower butterfly, or the crimson-patched longwing.
The species is remarkably variable in colour and form throughout northern South America, depending on location, and its various appearances can be difficult to distinguish from various other Heliconius butterflies such as Heliconius sara, also known as the Sara longwing. Particularly hard to distinguish is the related Heliconius melpomene, or "the postman", which mimics almost all the colour forms of Heliconius erato; colour forms are synchronized between the two throughout their common habitats. It is likely the clade containing Heliconius Erato radiated first, establishing the wing pattern diversity found in both species of butterfly. Two features found on the underside help to distinguish H. erato from H. melpomene—H. erato has four red dots where the wing attaches to the thorax while H. melpomene has three and the yellowish white stripe on the underside reaches the margin of the hindwing in H. erato but ends early in H. melpomene.
FEATURED 4/26/17 in "Groovy Butterflies"
FEATURED 4/26/17 in "Macro Marvels"
FEATURED 4/26/17 in "Animal Photographs"
FEATURED 4/27/17 in "All About Nature and the Animals"
FEATURED 4/27/17 in "Macro Marvels"
FEATURED 4/29/17 in "Wildlife One A Day"
FEATURED 5/5/17 in "Kingdom Animalia"
FEATURED 5/6/17 in "FAA Portrait Gallery"
FEATURED 7/9/18 in "Art District"
FEATURED 7/10/17 in "All Natural Beauty Of This World"
FEATURED 6/13/18 in "Macro Marvels"
FEATURED 6/18/20 in "Visions of Spring, Glances of Summer"
FEATURED 6/21/20 in "500 Views Share Group"
FEATURED 6/22/20 in "Images That Excite You"
FEATURED 6/27/20 in "500 Views on One Image"
FEATURED 6/27/20 in "Your Very Best Photography"
FEATURED 10/29/20 in "10 Plus"
FEATURED 11/26/21 in "The Wonder of Wings"
FEATURED 11/27/21 in "1000 Views on 1 Image"
FEATURED 11/28/21 in "Macro"
FEATURED 12/4/21 in "Out of the Ordinary"

Uploaded

April 25th, 2017

Statistics

Viewed 1,994 Times  -  Last Visitor from Romeo, MI on 04/22/2024 at 1:55 PM

Colors

Embed

Share

Sales Sheet

Tags