Phylum: Arthropoda - Arthropods
Class: Insecta - Insects
Order: Lepidoptera - Butterflies and Moths
Superfamily: Papilionoidea - Butterflies (excluding skippers)
Family: Nymphalidae - Brushfooted Butterflies
Subfamily: Heliconiinae - Heliconians and Fritillaries
Genus: Heliconius
Species: erato
Sub Species: hydara
Introduction:
This widespread, geographically variable butterfly (see map 2 below) is involved in Müllerian mimicry with the concordantly variable Heliconius melpomene over most of its range. Only H. erato chestertonii Hewitson does not have a corresponding H. melpomene co-mimic. That race, from the upper Cauca valley of Colombia, is a co-mimic of H. cydno weymeri Staudinger.
Etymology: ERATO was one of the nine Muses, the goddesses of music, song and dance. Her name means "the lovely" or "beloved" from the Greek word eratos. In Classical times, when the Muses were assigned specific artistic spheres, she was named Muse of erotic poetry and mimic imitation and represented holding a lyre (ERATO).
Characteristics:
Early stages: Eggs are yellow and approximately 1.5 x 0.9 mm (h x w). Females usually place eggs singly on growing shoots of the host plant. Mature larvae have a white body with black and orange spots, black scoli, and yellow head; length is around 1.3 cm. Caterpillars are solitary (Brown, 1981). Pupae are brown with gold spots on the dorsum, the thorax is strongly bowed and has short abdominal spines. The head has long head horns and the antennae have many short black spines (Brown, 1981; DeVries, 1997).
Geographical Distribution:
Heliconius erato is widespread throughout Central America and South America. The map below shows an approximate representation of the geographic distribution of this species. The original data used to draw these maps are derived from Brown (1979) which is available at Keith S. Brown Jr. (1979). Ecological Geography and Evolution in Neotropical Forests.
Make: Canon
Model: Canon PowerShot SX110 IS
Software: GIMP 2.4.3
Exposure Time: 1/318
F-Stop: f/3.5
ISO Speed Ratings: 80
Focal Length: 9100/1000 mm
Date Taken: 2010-06-19 10:53
Metering Mode: Center Weighted Average
Flash: Flash fired
File Size: 234 kb
