Butterflies of
the Amazon and Andes
Juliette
Eueides aliphera
GODART, 1819
Family - NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily -
HELICONIINAE
Tribe - HELICONIINI
Eueides aliphera, Rio Shima, Satipo, Peru
Introduction
The tribe
Heliconiini, colloquially known as Longwings,
includes 71 species, all confined exclusively to the neotropics. The butterflies are
characterised by possessing distinctively patterned elongated forewings and a
delicate fluttering flight.
The Heliconiini includes
the genus
Heliconius
( 39 species ), together with the smaller genera Dryas, Agraulis, Dryadula, Eueides, Neruda, Laparus, Philaethria, Dione
and Podotricha.
The 12 Eueides species are
similar to other Heliconiines but smaller in size. Some such as
isabella
are mimics of tiger-complex Ithomiines, while others including aliphera
and lineata
are very similar to Dryas and
Dione
in appearance. A few such as
vibilia
closely resemble Actinote
species.
Eueides heliconioides
falls into yet another group which strongly resemble
Laparus doris. To further confuse matters the butterfly was
known by the name Heliconius eanes
until the 1970's!
A
major characteristic which helps to distinguish
Eueides
from similar taxa is the shape and length of the antennae - in Eueides
these are never more than half the length of the costa; in Actinote
they are about the same length but are very strongly clubbed. In the
tiger-complex Ithomiines they are long, tapered, cream in colour and dropping.
In Heliconius
and Laparus
they are about two-thirds the length of the costa, and erect.
Eueides
aliphera is distributed from Mexico to Brazil and southern Peru.
Habitats
This species is found in rainforest and cloudforest on both sides of the
Andes, at altitudes between 0-1400m.
Eueides aliphera, Rio Shima, Satipo, Peru
Lifecycle
The eggs are laid singly
on Passiflora. The larvae feed
solitarily and are blackish, with long bristled spines along the back and sides.
There is a broad yellowish stripe along the sides. The head is black and shiny
with a pair of long recurved horns. The chrysalis is greenish-white with black markings on the wing cases, and short black-tipped
spines along the back.
Adult behaviour
Both sexes spend most of their time high in the canopy, but males
occasionally descend to imbibe moisture from damp sand, boulders or peccary
wallows. They only tend to come to the ground when other orange
Heliconiines such as
Dryas iulia or
Dione juno are present. On such occasions there can be dozens of each species swarming over
a small patch of damp ground. It is unclear whether these species
are simultaneously attracted to a substance on the ground, or
whether aliphera are polarising toward
other orange species in the same way that mixed species
aggregations of white and yellow butterflies commonly gather to
feed on river beaches. Females can sometimes be seen nectaring at
Lantana, Cissus
or Serjania.
Eueides aliphera, Rio Shima, Satipo, Peru
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