Heliconiini is a
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
of
butterflies
Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...
in the
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...
Heliconiinae
The Heliconiinae, commonly called heliconians or longwings, are a subfamily of the brush-footed butterflies (family (biology), family Nymphalidae). They can be divided into 45–50 genera and were sometimes treated as a separate family Heliconi ...
, also known as the passion-vine butterflies. This group has roughly 100
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
and subspecies distributed primarily in the
Neotropics
The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone.
Definition
In biogeog ...
.
Tribe Heliconiini
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''
Genera and select species
*'' Agraulis'' (Boisduval & Le Conte, 1833) monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...
**'' Agraulis vanillae'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – Gulf fritillary
*'' Dione'' (Hübner, 1819)
**'' Dione juno'' ( Cramer, 1779) – Juno silverspot, Juno longwing
*'' Dryadula'' (Michener, 1942) monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...
**'' Dryadula phaetusa'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – banded orange, orange tiger
*'' Dryas'' (Hübner, 1807) monotypic
**'' Dryas iulia'' (Hübner, 1807) – Julia longwing
*'' Eueides'' (Hübner, 1816) – longwings
*''Heliconius
''Heliconius'' comprises a colorful and widespread genus of brush-footed butterflies commonly known as the longwings or heliconians. This genus is distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the New World, from South America ...
'' (Kluk, 1802) – longwings or heliconians
*'' Philaethria'' (Billberg, 1820)
*'' Podotricha'' (Michener, 1942)
Two additional genera, ''Laparus'' Billberg, 1820 and ''Neruda'' Turner, 1976, have recently been synonymized with ''Heliconius''.
See also
* List of fritillaries (butterflies)
References
*
Taxa named by William Swainson
Butterfly tribes
{{Heliconiinae-stub