Postman Butterfly
by Jon Burch Photography
Title
Postman Butterfly
Artist
Jon Burch Photography
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photography
Description
Heliconius melpomene, the postman butterfly, common postman, is a brightly colored butterfly found throughout Central and South America. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Its coloration coevolved with a sister species H. erato as a warning to predators of its inedibility; this is an example of Müllerian mimicry. H. melpomene was one of the first butterfly species observed to forage for pollen, a behavior that is common in other groups but rare in butterflies. Because of the recent rapid evolutionary radiation of the genus Heliconius and overlapping of its habitat with other related species, H. melpomene has been the subject of extensive study on speciation and hybridization. These hybrids tend to have low fitness as they look different from the original species and no longer exhibit Müllerian mimicry.
Heliconius melpomene possesses ultraviolet vision which enhances its ability to distinguish subtle differences between markings on the wings of other butterflies. This allows the butterfly to avoid mating with other species that share the same geographic range.
Some digital effects were applied to the original image after the photograph was made. No electrons were harmed during the transition. Your finished photograph will not contain the Fine Art America watermark.
Image copyright 2022 Jon Burch Photography.
Uploaded
June 15th, 2022
Embed
Share
Similar Images
Comments (2)
Recently Viewed
