Heliconius eleuchia

Heliconius eleuchia (Heliconius eleuchia)

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

Genus – heliconius

Appearance

The caterpillars are yellow, with black spines.

The wingspan of Heliconius eleuchia can reach about 86 millimeters (3.4 in). These large butterflies have a slender body and long elongated front wings with a slightly concave inner edge. The basal half of the both wings is navy blue. Forewings are crossed by two yellow bands with irregular edges, running from the costal nervure to the inner angle and separating the apex from the rest of the wing. Hindwings have a large submarginal white area, crossed by black nervure. The underside presents the same ornamentation, but the forewings show a line of scarlet at the base and the hindwings have some scarlet spots in the basal area.

Habitat

This species is present Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador.

Behavior

Butterflies demonstrate daily activity. They are poisonous. The flight is fast and easy. Butterflies spend the night in a large group on branches above the water. Caterpillars are gregarious.

Diet

Caterpillars feed on Passiflora macrophyllum (Passifloraceae).

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 usually place 20 to 50 eggs on growing shoots of the host plant. Eggs are yellow or white and approximately 1 x 0.8 mm. The incubation period is 7-10 days. It is better to keep the caterpillars in terrariums of 10-20 pieces. In the terrarium, you need to place a forage plant. Temperature in the terrarium is 22-25 ^oC at the humidity of 65-75%. The pupa looks like a twisted dry leaf. The life cycle takes a little more than a month. Butterflies live up to 6 months.

In captivity

The mesh terrarium 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.