| Sara Longwing (Heliconius sara (Fabricius, 1793)) |
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Scientific name: Heliconius sara (Fabricius, 1793) Common name: Sara Longwing French name: Order: Lepidoptera Suborder: Rhopalocera Family: Nymphalidae Subfamily: Heliconiinae Wingspan: 55 to 60 mm. Biotope: Tropical forest, woodland edges, open areas. Geographic area: Central America from southern Mexico, South America in all the Amazon Basin and in southern Brazil. Flight time: All year round. Number of generations : Caterpillar: Yellow with black stripes. The head is black and bears horns of the same colour. Host plant: Passiflora auriculata. |
The Sara Longwing has a black upper side of the wings with a metallic blue basal area. The fore wings, which are elongated like on all butterflies of the Heliconiinae sub-family, show two white transversal patches. The patch closer to the base is larger, more than twice wider than the patch close to the apex. The under side of the wings is a very dark brown colour with small red spots at the base of the wings. The white patches of the fore wings are also visible on the under side. Males detect the pheromones emitted by the chrysalis of females. They land in the vicinity and mating occurs as soon as the females emerge. Like for many members of the Heliconiinae sub-family there is mimicry with other species. You can tell Heliconius leucadia apart based on the fact that the large white patch on the fore wings never extends beyond the second cubital vein. This vein is clearly visible like a thin oblique black line crossing the white patch on Heliconius sara. You can tell Heliconius wallacei apart with the thread-like red marks running along the costal edge and the inner edge on the under side of the base of the wings. These marks have the form of small scattered dots on Heliconius sara. |
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I have shot this picture at Matoury, while walking along the Mirande footpath. Here is one specimen with a 100% confidence on the identification as I have got an upper side view and an under side view (next picture). |
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Your can clearly see that the red marks at the base of the under side of the wings have the form of small dots. |
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I have shot this picture at Awala Yalimapo, les Hattes, while walking on a footpath going southwards from the D22 road. An under side view is needed to decide between Heliconius sara and Heliconius wallacei. The high contrast between the pure white patches and the dark colour of the wings makes it difficult to take correctly exposed pictures. |
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I have shot this picture at Roura, at the camps Patawa. I do not have either any view of the underside of the wings for this specimen. |
André Bon November 2014