Heliconius clysonimus

Heliconius clysonimus(Heliconius clysonimus)

Phylum —arthropoda
Class —insecta
Order — lepidoptera
Family —nymphalidae

Genus –heliconius

Appearance

Eggs are yellow and approximately 1.5 x 1 mm (h x w). Mature larvae have a white body with black and orange spots, and black scoli and yellow head; length is around 1.2 cm. 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.

The butterfly's wingspan is about 70-80 mm. The wings are elongated, oval. The forewings are black or dark brown with vertical white stripes. On the hindwings there is a broad band of red or orange color, not reaching the edge of the wing. The underparts are paler with a few small red spots at the base of the wings.

Habitat

Heliconius clysonymus is distributed from Costa Rica to North Andes.

Behavior

It demonstrates daily activity. Butterflies are poisonous. The flight is fast and easy.Butterflies spend the night in small groups.

Diet

Butterflies feed on flower nectar. Females eat pollen.

Reproduction

For their reproduction you need a terrarium with a size of 50 x 50 x 70 cm. Females lay eggs one at a time on the leaves of the forage plant. Eggs are light yellow, elongated, their size is about 1.5 x 1.0 mm. The incubation period is 7-10 days. The caterpillars feed on the leaves of Passiflora. They feed at night.It is better to keep the caterpillars in terrariums of 6-8 pieces. In the terrarium, you need to place a forage plant. Temperature in the place for keeping them is 22-25 ^oC at the humidity of 60-70%.

The life cycle takes a little more than a month. Butterflies live up to 6 months.

In captivity

The mesh cage with a size of 50 × 50 × 70 mm is suitable for keeping butterflies. Room temperature is necessary. Daylight time is 12 hours. You can feed butterflies with honey syrup diluted with boiled water in a ratio of 1: 10 and flower pollen.