Hewitson's longwing

Appearance

Heliconius hewitsoni is a cognate of H. sapho in the pupal-mating clade of Heliconius, with a restricted allopatric ditribution on the Pacific slope of Costa Rica and western Panama. It is involved in Müllerian mimicry with the H. cydno-cognate H. pachinus.

Early stages: Eggs are yellow and approximately 1.2 x 0.8 mm (h x w). Females usually place 20 to 40 eggs on growing shoots of the host plant. Mature larvae have a yellow and green body with yellow scoli and black head; length is around 0.3 cm. Caterpillars are gregarious (Brown, 1981). Pupae are pale yellow to pale brown, with well-marked black veins and black spines. Pupation often takes place in groups (DeVries, 1997).

Adult: A distinctive black butterfly with yellow transverse bands on fore- and hindwings. H. hewitsoni is very similar in general appearance to its Müllerian mimic H. pachinus. However, the two are easily separated as follows: the anterior part of the proximal yellow forewing band in H. hewistoni is in the discal cell, while in H. pachinus it is distal to the discal cell. Forewing length: 34-41 mm.

Naming

Synonym
Heliconius sapho hewitsoni Hewitson 1875

Distribution

Heliconius hewitsoni is distributed in the province of Chiriqui (Panama) and the Pacific slopes of Costa Rica.

Behavior

H. hewitsoni occurs from sea level to 1,500 m in forest. Usually individuals fly rapidly and in the canopy. The males sit on female pupae a day before emergence, and mating occurs the next morning, before the female has completely eclosed. Adults roost at night in large groups on twigs or tendrils over water (Brown, 1981).

Reproduction

The caterpillars are yellow and green. They pupate in groups in pale yellow to pale brown chrysalids covered in black veins and spines.

Host plant: H. hewitsoni larvae feed primarily on plants from the genus Passiflora, subgenus Astrophea (Brown, 1981). In Costa Rica they feed on Passiflora pittieri (DeVreis, 1997)