Heliconiini is a
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...
of
butterflies
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...
in the
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classifica ...
Heliconiinae
The Heliconiinae, commonly called heliconians or longwings, are a subfamily of the brush-footed butterflies (family Nymphalidae). They can be divided into 45–50 genera and were sometimes treated as a separate family Heliconiidae within the P ...
, also known as the passion-vine butterflies. This group has roughly 100
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...
and subspecies distributed primarily in the
Neotropics
The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone.
Definition
In bioge ...
.
Tribe Heliconiini
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''
Genera and select species
*'' Agraulis'' (Boisduval & Le Conte, 1833) monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...
**''Agraulis vanillae
The Gulf fritillary or passion butterfly (''Dione vanillae'') is a bright orange butterfly in the subfamily Heliconiinae of the family Nymphalidae. That subfamily was formerly set apart as a separate family, the Heliconiidae. The Heliconiinae a ...
'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – Gulf fritillary
*'' Dione'' (Hübner, 1819)
**'' Dione juno'' ( Cramer, 1779) – Juno silverspot, Juno longwing
*'' Dryadula'' (Michener, 1942) monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...
**'' Dryadula phaetusa'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – banded orange, orange tiger
*'' Dryas'' (Hübner, 1807) monotypic
**''Dryas iulia
''Dryas iulia'' (often incorrectly spelled ''julia''),Lamas, G. (editor) (2004). Atlas of Neotropical Lepidoptera. Checklist: Part 4A. Hesperioidea – Papilionoidea. commonly called the Julia butterfly, Julia heliconian, the flame, or flambeau ...
'' (Hübner, 1807) – Julia longwing
*'' Eueides'' (Hübner, 1816) – longwings
*''Heliconius
''Heliconius'' comprises a colorful and widespread genus of brush-footed butterflies commonly known as the longwings or heliconians. This genus is distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the New World, from South America ...
'' (Kluk, 1802) – longwings or heliconians
*'' Philaethria'' (Billberg, 1820)
*'' Podotricha'' (Michener, 1942)
Two additional genera, ''Laparus'' Billberg, 1820 and ''Neruda'' Turner, 1976, have recently been synonymized with ''Heliconius''.
See also
*List of fritillaries (butterflies)
This is a list of butterfly species in diverse genera with the common name fritillary. The term refers to the chequered markings on the wings, usually black on orange, and derives from the Latin ''fritillus'' (meaning dice-box - or, according to s ...
References
*
Taxa named by William John Swainson
Butterfly tribes
{{Heliconiinae-stub