top of page

Butterflies of Zihuatanejo

SUPERFAMILY PAPILIONOIDEA

Red Postman

​Heliconius erato

Heliconius erato, or the red postman, is one of about 40 neotropical species of butterfly belonging to the genus Heliconius. It is also commonly known as the small postman, the red passion flower butterfly, or the crimson-patched longwing. The red postman returns to a communal roost every night that contains members of the same species and of other heliconids. The roost is typically situated about 2–10 meters from the ground on twigs and tendrils and is occupied by a small group of butterflies. Adults who have just emerged from the pupa typically roost alone for a few days before roosting with others.

From Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliconius_erato, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

bottom of page