Heliconius sara
Margarita Beltrán and Andrew V. Z. Brower
Introduction
A widespread neotropical species. H. sara is a relatively small Heliconius, and member of one of the few sister-taxon mimetic pairs (with H. leucadia).
Characteristics
Early stages: Eggs are yellow and approximately 1.1 x 0.7 mm (h x w). Females gather together and usually each place 15 to 40 eggs on growing shoots of the host plant. Mature larvae have a yellow body with black bands, with black scoli and head; length is approximately 0.4 cm. Caterpillars are gregarious (Brown, 1981). Pupae are pale brown with black spines and black veins on the wingpads, the head horns are short and have few golden spots (DeVries, 1997).
Geographical Distribution
Heliconius sara is widespread throughout Central America and South America. 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 sara. © 2002 Margarita Beltran.
Geographical races/subspecies
Like most Heliconius species, H. sara includes a variety of geographical variants. Most of the morphological differences relate to the shape of the proximal forewing band, which ranges from nearly round to a narrow transverse bar. The following are the valid names and synonyms applied to these forms (Lamas, 2004).H. sara sara (Fabricius, 1793) Guiana Shield
= H. sara rhea (Cramer, 1775) (invalid, preoccupied Papilio rhea Poda, 1761)
= H. sara thamar (Hübner, [1806]) (described in Nerëis)
= H. rhea ab. albilinea Riffarth, 1899 (infrasubspecific, ICZN Art. 45.6.2)
=H. sara praesignis Stichel, 1919
=H. sara thamar f. nana Stammeshaus, 1982 (infrasubspecific, ICZN Art. 45.6.1)
H. sara apseudes (Hübner, [1813]) (described in Nerëis) Brazil
= H. sara apseudes (Hübner, [1808]) nomen nudum
H. sara brevimacula Riffarth, 1901 (ICZN Art. 45.5.1) Colombia
=H. sara var. magdalena ab.? (var.?) brevimaculata Staudinger, 1897 (infrasubspecific, ICZN Art. 45.6.1)
H. sara elektra Neukirchen, 1998 Colombia
H. sara fulgidus Stichel, 1906 Costa Rica
H. sara magdalena H. W. Bates, 1864 Colombia, Panama
=H. sara var. magdalena ab, albimaculata Staudinger, 1897 (infrasubspecific, ICZN Art. 45.6.1)
=H. sara ab. albula Riffarth, 1900 (infrasubspecific, ICZN Art. 45.6.2)
=H. sarae lilianae Emsley, 1965 (nomen nudum)
H. sara sprucei H. W. Bates, 1864 Ecuador
H. sara theudela Hewitson, 1874 Panama
H. sara veraepacis H. W. Bates 1864 Guatemala
H. sara williami Neukirchen, 1994 Trinidad
Habits
H. sara occurs from sea level to 1,300 m in forest edges. Usually individuals fly slowly and in the middlestory. 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 small groups 2 to 10 m above ground in twigs or tendrils (Brown, 1981).
Host plant: H. sara larvae feed primarily on plants from the subgenera Astrophea and Granadilla (Passifloraceae) (Brown 1981). In Costa Rica H. s. fulgidus and H. s. theudela feed on Passiflora ariculata (DeVries, 1997).
References
Brown K. S. 1981 The Biology of Heliconius and Related Genera. Annual Review of Entomology 26, 427-456.
DeVries P. J. 1997 The Butterflies of Costa Rica and Their Natural History, Volume I: Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae Princeton University Press, Baskerville, USA.
Fabricius J. C.1793. Entomologia systematica emendata et aucta. Secundum classes, ordines, genera, species adjectis synonimis, locis, observationibus, descriptionibus. Hafniae, Christian Gottlieb Proft, Fil. et Soc. 3(1): [vi] , 488 pp.
Title Illustrations
| Scientific Name | Heliconius sara |
|---|---|
| Specimen Condition | Dead Specimen |
| View | Dorsal |
| Collection | Gerardo Lamas |
| Image Use |
 This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
|
| Copyright |
©
|
| Scientific Name | Heliconius sara |
|---|---|
| Specimen Condition | Dead Specimen |
| View | Ventral |
| Collection | Gerardo Lamas |
| Image Use |
This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
|
| Copyright |
©
|
| Scientific Name | Heliconius sara |
|---|---|
| Location | Entre Rios, Bahia, Brazil (12S 38W) |
| Specimen Condition | Live Specimen |
| Identified By | Alex Popovkin |
| Life Cycle Stage | adult |
| View | ventral |
| Image Use |
This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License - Version 2.0.
|
| Copyright | © 2008 Alex Popovkin |
About This Page
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Margarita Beltrán at and Andrew V. Z. Brower at
Page copyright © 2010 and
Page: Tree of Life
Heliconius sara .
Authored by
Margarita Beltrán and Andrew V. Z. Brower.
The TEXT of this page is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media
featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available
for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the
relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and
redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright
Policies.
- First online 18 February 2007
- Content changed 21 June 2010
Citing this page:
Beltrán, Margarita and Andrew V. Z. Brower. 2010. Heliconius sara . Version 21 June 2010 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Heliconius_sara/72943/2010.06.21 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
