Heliconius melpomene (captive bred)
Heliconius melpomene

f13 @ 1/60s, ISO:2000, Nikon D3S w 105mm, Nikon SB-5000 Speedlight


"Heliconius melpomene," Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Heliconius melpomene, the postman butterfly, common postman or simply postman, is a brightly colored butterfly found throughout Central and South America. The postman butterfly is predominately black with either red or yellow stripes across the forewings. The postman butterfly has large long wings (35–39 mm). It is poisonous and the red patterns on its wings are an example of aposematism. They look similar to H. 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.
Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory & Gardens, South Deerfield, Massachusetts
 
12/01/2021