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Heliconius ethilla Godart 1819

Margarita Beltrán
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Containing group: Heliconius

Characteristics

Early stages:  Eggs are yellow and approximately 1.3 x 0.9 mm (h x w). Females usually place 1 - 4 eggs under younger leaves and tendrils of the host plant.  Mature larvae have a white body, black scoli, and orange head; length is around 1.7 cm.  (Brown, 1981).

Geographic Distribution

Heliconius ethilla is distributed from Panama to South Brazil. 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.

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Distribution of Heliconius atthis and Heliconius ethilla. © 2002 Margarita Beltran

Habits

H. ethilla occurs from sea level to 2,000 m in marginal forests.  Usually individuals fly slowly and in the middlestory.  Females mate multiply and adults roost solitary or in loose groups at night at 2-10 m above ground on twigs or tendrils.

Hostplant: H. ethilla larvae feed primarily on plants from the genus Passiflora from the subgenera Granadilla section Quadrangulares, Menispermifoliae, and Simplicifoliae; in laboratory experiments they accept Distephana, Tacsonia, and Plectostemma sections (Brown, 1981).

References

Brown K. S. 1981 The Biology of Heliconius and Related Genera. Annual Review of Entomology 26, 427-456.

Godart J. B. [1775-1825] 1819. Pp. 13-328. In: Latreille, P. A. & J. B. Godart, Encyclopédie Méthodique. Histoire naturelle. Entomologie, ou histoire naturelle des crustacés, des arachnides et des insectes. Paris, veuve Agasse. 9(1): i-ii, 3-328.

Title Illustrations
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Scientific Name Heliconius ethilla michaelianius
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
View Dorsal
Collection Gerardo Lamas
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
Copyright ©
Scientific Name Heliconius ethilla michaelianius
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
View Ventral
Collection Gerardo Lamas
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
Copyright ©
Scientific Name Heliconius ethilla aerotome
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
View Dorsal
Collection Gerardo Lamas
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
Copyright ©
Scientific Name Heliconius ethilla aerotome
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
View Ventral
Collection Gerardo Lamas
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
Copyright ©
Scientific Name Heliconius ethilla narcaea
Location Entre Rios, Bahia, Brazil (12S 38W)
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Identified By Alex Popovkin
Sex Male
Life Cycle Stage adult
View ventral
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2007 Alex Popovkin
About This Page


University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Margarita Beltrán at

Page: Tree of Life Heliconius ethilla Godart 1819. Authored by Margarita Beltrán. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Beltrán, Margarita. 2010. Heliconius ethilla Godart 1819. Version 21 July 2010 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Heliconius_ethilla/72907/2010.07.21 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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