Heliconius pachinus

Heliconius pachinus(Heliconius pachinus)

Phylum —arthropoda
Class —insecta
Order —lepidoptera
Family —nymphalidae

Genus –heliconius

Appearance

Eggs are yellow and approximately 1.6 x 1 mm (h x w). Early instar larvae have a white body and black spines. Mature larvae have a pinkish brown body with black spots, black scoli and the head is orange with two black horns, length is around 1.4 cm.

The pupae are green with brown stripes or yellow-green spots, and there are two small horns on the head.

The wingspan of the butterfly is 70-80 mm. The forewings are black with two broad vertical white stripes. Hindwingshave got a broad horizontal white stripe. The underside is also colored, and it has got large red spots at the base of the wings.

Habitat

Heliconiuspachinus is distributed on the Pacific slopes of Costa Rica and Panama.

Behavior

It demonstrates daily activity. Butterflies are poisonous. The flight is slow and easy. Butterflies spend the night singly at an altitude of 2 to 10 meters. The caterpillars live in small groups.

Diet

The caterpillars feed on the leaves of Passiflora. Butterflies feed on flower nectar.

Reproduction

For their reproduction you need a terrarium with a size of 50 x 50 x 70 cm. Females lay eggs one at a time on the young leaves and tendrils of the forage plant. It is better to keep the caterpillars in mesh terrariums of 6-8 pieces. In the terrarium, you need to place a branch of a forage plant. Temperature in the place for keeping them is 22-25 ^oC at the humidity of 65-75%.

The life cycle takes a little more than a month. Butterflies live up to 6 months.

In captivity

The mesh cage with a size of 50 × 50 × 70 mm is suitable for keeping butterflies. Room temperature is necessary. Daylight time is 12 hours. You can feed butterflies with honey syrup diluted with boiled water in a ratio of 1:10.