Neruda metharme
Margarita Beltrán and Andrew V. Z. BrowerIntroduction
This member of the black/blue-and-yellow Heliconius mimicry group (e. g., H. sara, H. wallacei, H. doris) is widespread in the Amazon Basin, Venezuela and the Guianas.Characteristics
Early stages: Eggs are white and approximately 1 x 0.7 mm (h x w). Females usually place 20 to 100 eggs on growing shoots of the host plant. Caterpillars are gregarious (Brown, 1981).
Geographical Distribution
Neruda metharme 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.
Geographical distribution of Neruda metharme and Neruda godmani. © 2002 Margarita Beltran
Habits
N. metharme occurs from sea level to 1,100 m in deep forests. Usually individuals fly slowly and in the middlestory (Brown, 1981).
Hostplant: N. metharme larvae feed primarily on plants from the genera Dilkea and Mitostemma (Brown, 1981).
Geographical races/subspecies
Neruda metharme metharme (Erichson, [1849] (described in Heliconia) widespread in Amazonia= Heliconia thetis Boisduval, 1870
= Heliconius anaclia Riffarth, 1901 (nomen nudum)
Neruda metharme makiritare Brown & Fernández, 1985 s. central Venezuela
Neruda metharme perseis (Stichel, 1923) (described on Heliconius) southeastern Colombia
References
Brown K. S. 1981 The Biology of Heliconius and Related Genera. Annual Review of Entomology 26, 427-456.
Erichson, W F. 1849 Insecten, pp. 553-617. In: Schomburgk, R., Reisen in Britisch-Guiana in den Jahren 1840-1844. Im Auftrag Sr. Mäjestat des Königs von Preussen. Versuch einer Fauna und Flora von Britisch-Guiana. Nach Vorlangen von Johannes Müller, Ehrenberg, Erichson, Klotzsch, Troschel, Cabanis und andern. Leipzig, J. J. Weber. 3: i-viii, 531-1262 .
Lamas, G. (Ed.) 2004. Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. Checklist: Part 4A Hesperioidea - Papiionoidea. Scientific Publishers/Association of Tropical Lepidoptera, Gainesville.
About This Page
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Margarita Beltrán at and Andrew V. Z. Brower at
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Neruda metharme .
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- First online 21 February 2007
- Content changed 09 December 2011
Citing this page:
Beltrán, Margarita and Andrew V. Z. Brower. 2011. Neruda metharme . Version 09 December 2011 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Neruda_metharme/72876/2011.12.09 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
