''Heliconius eratosignis'', the eratosignis longwing, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

of the family Nymphalidae. It was described by James John Joicey and George Talbot in 1925. It is found in the south-western

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

, from

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

and

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. The habitat consists of sandy

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

s. The larvae are

gregarious Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies. Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. For example, when a mother wasp ...

and feed on species in the ''

Passiflora ''Passiflora'', known also as the passion flowers or passion vines, is a genus of about 550 species of flowering plants, the type genus of the family Passifloraceae. They are mostly tendril-bearing vines, with some being shrubs or trees. They ...

'' subgenera ''Astrophea'' and ''Mitostemma''. Full-grown larvae have a yellow body with black bands and a black head. They reach a length of about 20 mm. Adult ''H. eratosignis'' are distinguished morphologically from their sister species '' Heliconius demeter'' because they lack a yellow streak on the base of the forewing costa underside; in contrast, ''H. eratosignis'' has a solid orange basal costal margin on the underside of the forewing. Keith S. Brown and Woodruff W. Benson in 1975 argued the two forms were the same species, but recorded both ''H. eratosignis'' gregarious and ''H. demeter'' solitary larvae in their paper. The Tree of Life Web Project has yet to recognize ''H. eratosignis'' as a separate species, but shows an image of a male ''Heliconius eratosignis'' from Peru under the description of ''H. demeter''.Beltrán, Margarita (2010)
"''Heliconius demeter''"
''Tree of Life Web Project''.

Etymology

The species is presumably named because it is difficult to distinguish from ''

Heliconius erato ''Heliconius erato'', or the red postman, is one of about 40 neotropical species of butterfly belonging to the genus ''Heliconius''. It is also commonly known as the small postman, the red passion flower butterfly, or the crimson-patched longwing ...

'' (as well as from its sister species '' Heliconius demeter'').

Subspecies

*''H. e. eratosignis'' (Joicey & Talbot, 1925) (Eueides) (Brazil (MT)) *''H. e. tambopata'' Lamas, 1985 (Peru) *''H. e. ucayalensis'' H. Holzinger & R. Holzinger, 1975 (Peru) *''H. e. ulysses'' K. S. Brown & Benson, 1975 (Bolivia)

References

eratosignis Nymphalidae of South America Lepidoptera of Brazil Lepidoptera of French Guiana Fauna of the Amazon Butterflies described in 1925 Taxa named by Otto Staudinger {{Nymphalidae-stub