Heliconius hierax
Margarita Beltrán
Introduction
Etymology: The name Hierax comes from a figure in greek mythology. Hierax lived among the Mariandynians, a people inhabiting an area of the southern coast of the Black Sea. He was said to be a virtuous man, devoted to Demeter and having dedicated to her many sanctuaries; the harvests were excellent. But as he would not honour Poseidon, the god's wrath destroyed the fruits of Demeter and sent a sea-monster against the people. The population, unable to resist neither the monster nor the famine that ensued, bade Hierax to help them, and he sent many kinds of food to prevent them from starving. But as Poseidon saw his cult abolished, he turned Hierax into a hawk (Hierax 2).
Geographical Distribution
Heliconius hierax is distributed in the north of the Andes. This map shows an approximate representation of the geographic distribution of this species. The original data used to draw these maps are derived from Brown (1979) which is available at Keith S. Brown Jr. (1979). Ecological Geography and Evolution in Neotropical Forests.
Distribution of Heliconius hierax and Heliconius nattereri. © 2002
Habits
H. hierax occurs from 800 to 1,900 m in cloud forest. Usually, individuals fly rapidly and in the middlestory (Brown, 1981).
References
Brown K. S. 1981 The Biology of Heliconius and Related Genera. Annual Review of Entomology 26, 427-456.
Brown, K. S., Jr. 1979 Ecologia Geográfica e Evolução nas Florestas Neotropicais. Campinas, São Paulo, Brasil: Universidade Estadual de Campinas.
Hewitson, W C. 1869 Remarks on and descriptions of new species of butterflies collected by Mr. Buckley in Ecuador. London, John Van Voorst. 1: ii,16 pp. (2 December), 2: 17-32 (15 December), 3: 33-48 (30 December).
"Hierax 2." Greek Mythology Link. http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/001ShortEntries/SEHecamede.html
[Accessed Jul 1, 2008].
Title Illustrations
| Scientific Name | Heliconius hierax |
|---|---|
| Specimen Condition | Live Specimen |
| Image Use |
 This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
|
| Copyright |
© Chris Jiggins
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About This Page
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Margarita Beltrán at
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Heliconius hierax .
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- First online 18 February 2007
- Content changed 01 July 2008
Citing this page:
Beltrán, Margarita. 2008. Heliconius hierax . Version 01 July 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Heliconius_hierax/72917/2008.07.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
