Heliconius eleuchia

Heliconius eleuchia, the white-edged longwing, is a species of Heliconius butterfly described by William Chapman Hewitson in 1853.

Subspecies
Subspecies include:
 * Heliconius eleuchia eleuchia - present in Costa Rica and in Colombia
 * Heliconius eleuchia eleusinus Staudinger, 1885 - present in Ecuador
 * Heliconius eleuchia primularis Butler, 1869 - present in C. in Ecuador

Distribution and habitat
This species is present Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador. It occurs in the riparian forest at an elevation up to 2000 m above sea level.

Description
The wingspan of Heliconius eleuchia can reach about 86 mm. These large butterflies have a slender body and long elongated front wings with a slightly concave inner edge. The basal half of the both wings is navy blue. Forewings are crossed by two yellow bands with irregular edges, running from the costal nervure to the inner angle and separating the apex from the rest of the wing. Hindwings have a large submarginal white area, crossed by black nervure. The underside presents the same ornamentation, but the forewings show a line of scarlet at the base and the hindwings have some scarlet spots in the basal area.

Biology
Caterpillars feed on Passiflora macrophyllum (Passifloraceae). The males rest on females' pupae before emergence, and mating occurs the next morning.

Müllerian mimicry
H. eleuchia engages in Müllerian mimicry with H. cydno, specifically in Ecuador. For this type of mimicry, species adopt one another's warning signals. In this case, coloring is used to warn a predator of the unpleasant taste of their intended prey. For instance, the subspecies H. cydno alithea has two potential colorings, one of which mimics the coloring of H. eleuchia.