Heliconius wallacei
Margarita Beltrán
Characteristics
Early stages: Eggs are cream and approximately 1.1 x 0.9 mm (h x w). Females usually place 1 to 30 eggs on growing shoots of the host plant. Mature larvae have a maroon body, with brown head and yellow scoli, length is around 1 cm. Caterpillars are gregarious. (Brown, 1981).
Geographical Distribution
Heliconius wallacei is distributed in the Amazon Basin. 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.
Distribution of Heliconius wallacei. © Margarita Beltran.
Habits
H. wallacei occurs from sea level to 1,200 m in tall forests. Usually individuals fly rapidly and in the lowerstory. Females mate multiply. Adults roost solitarily at night at 2-10 m above ground (Brown, 1981).
Hostplant: H. wallacei larvae feed primarily on plants from the subgenus Distephana (Passifloraceae) (Brown, 1981).
References
Brown K. S. 1981 The Biology of Heliconius and Related Genera. Annual Review of Entomology 26, 427-456.
Reakirt T. 1866. Descriptions of some new species of diurnal Lepidoptera. Proceedings of the Academy of natural Sciences of Philadelphia 18(3): 238-249.
Title Illustrations
| Scientific Name | Heliconius wallacei flavescens |
|---|---|
| Specimen Condition | Dead Specimen |
| View | Dorsal |
| Collection | Gerardo Lamas |
| Image Use |
 This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
|
| Copyright |
©
|
| Scientific Name | Heliconius wallacei flavescens |
|---|---|
| Specimen Condition | Dead Specimen |
| View | Ventral |
| Collection | Gerardo Lamas |
| Image Use |
This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
|
| Copyright |
©
|
About This Page
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Margarita Beltrán at
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Heliconius wallacei .
Authored by
Margarita Beltrán.
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- First online 18 February 2007
- Content changed 12 August 2008
Citing this page:
Beltrán, Margarita. 2008. Heliconius wallacei . Version 12 August 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Heliconius_wallacei/72247/2008.08.12 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
