Heliconius sapho

Heliconius sapho
Dorsal view
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Heliconius
Species:	H. sapho
Binomial name
Heliconius sapho (Drury, 1782)[1]
Synonyms
Papilio sapho Drury, 1782 Heliconius sappho[sic] Westwood, 1837 Heliconia leuce Doubleday, 1847 Heliconia hewitsoni Hewitson, 1875

Heliconius sapho, the Sapho Longwing, is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family. It was described by Dru Drury in 1782. It is found from Mexico southward to Ecuador.

Name

Drury left no notes on the origin of the name, but the spelling (and the naming conventions of the time) suggests it derives from the mythological Queen Sapho, not the historical poet Sappho. Subsequent authors, from Westwood onwards, have unjustifiably "corrected" the spelling.

Description

Ventral view

Upper Side. Antennae black. Eyes brown. Thorax and abdomen black. Wings mazarine blue; the anterior ones having a white band crossing them from the middle of the anterior edges to the lower corners; the posterior edged with a white border, intersected by the blue tendons of the wings.

Under Side. Palpi grey. Breast and abdomen black, streaked with white. Wings black where they are blue on the upper side, with the same white markings; but next the body are adorned with beautiful red streaks, ending in points resembling rays issuing from it. Margins of the wings entire. Wing-span 3¼ inches (82 mm). ^[2]

Subspecies

• Heliconius sapho sapho
• Heliconius sapho leuce Doubleday, 1847 (Mexico - Costa Rica, Guatemala)
• Heliconius sapho hewitsoni Hewitson, 1875 (Costa Rica, Panama)
• Heliconius sapho chocoensis Brown & Benson, 1975 (Colombia)
• Heliconius sapho candidus Brown, 1976 (Ecuador)

References