Heliconius sara
Margarita BeltránCharacteristics
Early stages: Eggs are yellow and approximately 1.1 x 0.7 mm (h x w). Females gather together and usually each place 15 to 40 eggs on growing shoots of the host plant. Mature larvae have a yellow body with black bands, with black scoli and head; length is approximately 0.4 cm. Caterpillars are gregarious (Brown, 1981). Pupae are pale brown with black spines and black veins on the wingpads, the head horns are short and have few golden spots (DeVries, 1997).
Geographical Distribution
Heliconius sara is widespread throughout Central America and South America. This map 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.
Habits
H. sara occurs from sea level to 1,300 m in forest edges. Usually individuals fly slowly and in the middlestory. The males sit on female pupae a day before emergence, and mating occurs the next morning, before the female has completely eclosed. Adults roost at night in small groups 2 to 10 m above ground in twigs or tendrils (Brown, 1981).
Host plant: H. sara larvae feed primarily on plants from the subgenera Astrophea and Granadilla (Passifloraceae) (Brown 1981). In Costa Rica H. s. fulgidus and H. s. theudela feed on Passiflora ariculata (DeVries, 1997).
References
Brown K. S. 1981 The Biology of Heliconius and Related Genera. Annual Review of Entomology 26, 427-456.
DeVries P. J. 1997 The Butterflies of Costa Rica and Their Natural History, Volume I: Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae Princeton University Press, Baskerville, USA.
Fabricius J. C.1793. Entomologia systematica emendata et aucta. Secundum classes, ordines, genera, species adjectis synonimis, locis, observationibus, descriptionibus. Hafniae, Christian Gottlieb Proft, Fil. et Soc. 3(1): [vi] , 488 pp.
About This Page
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Margarita Beltr?n at
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- First online 18 February 2007
- Content changed 12 August 2008
Citing this page:
Beltrán, Margarita. 2008. Heliconius sara http://tolweb.org/Heliconius_sara/72943/2008.08.12 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
. Version 12 August 2008 (under construction).