Butterflies of
the Amazon and Andes
Glycera Longwing
Dione glycera
FELDER & FELDER,
1861
Family -
NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily -
HELICONIINAE
Tribe - HELICONIINI
Dione
glycera, Ecuador ©
Tony Hoare
Introduction
The Heliconiinae was
until a few years ago recently considered to be a full family equal in rank to the
Nymphalidae, Satyridae, Papilionidae etc. In 1958 Erlich proposed that the
families containing butterflies with only two pairs of legs should all be
classified as subfamilies within the Nymphalidae. This proposition was again
advanced by Ackery in 1984 and has since become accepted by most biologists.
Thus we now have the Libytheinae, Satyrinae, Nymphalinae, Limenitidinae,
Charaxinae, Apaturinae, Morphinae, Biblidinae, Ithomiinae,
Danainae and Heliconiinae.
The higher classification
of the Heliconiinae was revised
by Penz & Peggie
in 2003, being subdivided into the Acraeini, Argynnini
and Heliconiini. The latter are colloquially known as Longwings and
are characterised by their simple patterns, elongated forewings and delicate fluttering flight.
The Heliconiini includes
the genus
Heliconius
( 39 spp ), and the smaller genera Dryas, Dryadula, Eueides, Neruda, Laparus, Philaethria, Podotricha, Agraulis
and Dione.
The latter genus contains 3 species -
glycera, juno
and moneta
- all with orange uppersides and silver-spangled undersides.
Dione
glycera is distributed from Colombia to Venezuela, and south along the
Andes to Peru.
Habitats
This species is found in cloudforests, and in scrubby areas above the tree-line,
at altitudes between about 1600-3500m.
Lifecycle
The larvae feed on Passiflora ( Passifloraceae ).
Adult behaviour
The butterfly is usually encountered singly, but males can sometimes be seen congregating in two's or three's at
the edges of roadside ditches or small mountain streams. There
they sometimes stay for 2 or 3 hours, imbibing large quantities of clear
water from which they extract minerals that are passed to females
via spermatophores during copulation.
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