Postman Butterfly fanning (Heliconius melpomene)

Wikipedia: The Postman Butterfly, Common Postman, or simply Postman (Heliconius melpomene) feeds on Spanish Flag Lantana (Lantana camara) at the Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans. The Postman butterfly has large long wings with an orange stripe down each forewing. It is poisonous and has red patterns on its wings. This long wing, Heliconiine butterfly is found from Mexico to northern South America. Several species in the genus have very similar markings and are difficult to distinguish. They tend to look similar to the species Heliconius erato. Two features found on the underside help to distinguish H. erato from 'H. melpomene—H. erato has four red dots where the wing attaches to the thorax while H. melpomene has three and the yellowish white stripe on the underside reaches the margin of the hindwing in H. erato but ends before reaching the margin in H. melpomene.

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Pets & Animals

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• Butterfly