Heliconius Melpomene, Postman Butterfly
by Venetia Featherstone-Witty
Title
Heliconius Melpomene, Postman Butterfly
Artist
Venetia Featherstone-Witty
Medium
Photograph - Photographs
Description
Photographed in the Mindo Cloud Forest, Ecuador
Heliconius melpomene, the postman butterfly, common postman or simply postman, is a brightly colored butterfly found throughout Mexico and Central America. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Its coloration coevolved with a sister species H. erato as a warning to predators of its inedibility; this is an example of Müllerian mimicry. H. melpomene was one of the first butterfly species observed to forage for pollen, a behavior that is common in other groups but rare in butterflies. Because of the recent rapid evolutionary radiation of the genus Heliconius and overlapping of its habitat with other related species, H. melpomene has been the subject of extensive study on speciation and hybridization. These hybrids tend to have low fitness as they look different from the original species and no longer exhibit Müllerian mimicry.
Heliconius melpomene possesses ultraviolet vision which enhances its ability to distinguish subtle differences between markings on the wings of other butterflies. This allows the butterfly to avoid mating with other species that share the same geographic range.
FEATURED 4/15/20 in "Animals and Birds in the Wild"
FEATURED 4/16/20 in "Images That Excite You"
FEATURED 4/16/20 in "Animal Photography"
FEATURED 4/16/20 in "Animals"
FEATURED 4/18/20 in "Your Very Best Photography"
FEATURED 4/19/20 in "New FAA Uploads"
FEATURED 4/19/20in "FAA Pixels - All Stars"
FEATURED 4/26/20 in "Pure Nature"
FEATURED 4/28/20 in "Visions of Spring, Glimpses of Summer"
FEATURED 12/14/20 in "All Glorious Gardens"
Uploaded
April 15th, 2020
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Comments (6)
Venetia Featherstone-Witty
Thank you very much Marilyn for my first feature in the Glorious Gardens group!
Mother Nature
F/L. Congratulations on your feature in All Glorious Gardens group.. This is lovely work!
Venetia Featherstone-Witty replied:
Thank you so much - Mother Nature is my favorite because she is the ultimate artist!
Dawn Currie
Congratulations on your feature in our group, Pure Nature Photography - celebrating the best of our natural world! You are invited to archive it in the 2020 Pure Nature Photography Thanks and Features Archive discussion thread for longer lasting visibility.
Venetia Featherstone-Witty replied:
Thank you very much for the feature in Pure Nature Photography Dawn