Three-Dot Dancer. Red Postman Butterfly, Heliconius melpomene melpomene, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Heliconian Butterflies are the most speciose of butterflies. There are lots of sorts with widely varying markings. The first painting perhaps of one - from Surinam - was done by famous botanist and entomologist, the intrepid Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717). She'd travelled to and worked in Surinam 1699-1701, and published her naturalist findings in 1705. The painted leaf now in St Petersburg features a Heliconius, clearly a Melpomene (and not an Erato hydara, as has been claimed); Merian had sharp eyes. Heliconius melpomene melpomene is more prevalent in Surinam, ranging from the north of Colombia and Venezuela and then in a strip down along the coast from Guyana to the mouth of the Amazon from whence inland again.
In the inset photo you can see - if you're at all interested in these subtleties - how to distinguish the two very much alike kinds: Melpomene has those three tiny red spots where the underwing joins the thorax. For the rest Melpomene and Erato look the same to any predator and both are distasteful, too.
So, what's this about mimicry as a defense strategy whereby a less noxious kind mimics a more distasteful one for its own protection? Why would two equally disagreeable species or subspecies mimic each other? The mathematical answer was given by Johann Friederich Theodor 'Fritz' Müller (1821-1897). He showed mathematically that this double mimicry serves for quicker 'predator education', thus ensuring less loss of life for both species of Butterfly. Incidentally, this Müllerian Mimicry is one of the first instances in biology of using an explanatory mathematical model.
PS Many entomological authors say that 'Melpomene' is for the Greek Muse of Tragedy. It seems to me equally possible that it's for another meaning of the same word, namely: Dance. If you watch these colorful Butterflies: no Tragedy, but all Dancing in the Air.
Three-Dot Dancer. Red Postman Butterfly, Heliconius melpomene melpomene, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Heliconian Butterflies are the most speciose of butterflies. There are lots of sorts with widely varying markings. The first painting perhaps of one - from Surinam - was done by famous botanist and entomologist, the intrepid Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717). She'd travelled to and worked in Surinam 1699-1701, and published her naturalist findings in 1705. The painted leaf now in St Petersburg features a Heliconius, clearly a Melpomene (and not an Erato hydara, as has been claimed); Merian had sharp eyes. Heliconius melpomene melpomene is more prevalent in Surinam, ranging from the north of Colombia and Venezuela and then in a strip down along the coast from Guyana to the mouth of the Amazon from whence inland again.
In the inset photo you can see - if you're at all interested in these subtleties - how to distinguish the two very much alike kinds: Melpomene has those three tiny red spots where the underwing joins the thorax. For the rest Melpomene and Erato look the same to any predator and both are distasteful, too.
So, what's this about mimicry as a defense strategy whereby a less noxious kind mimics a more distasteful one for its own protection? Why would two equally disagreeable species or subspecies mimic each other? The mathematical answer was given by Johann Friederich Theodor 'Fritz' Müller (1821-1897). He showed mathematically that this double mimicry serves for quicker 'predator education', thus ensuring less loss of life for both species of Butterfly. Incidentally, this Müllerian Mimicry is one of the first instances in biology of using an explanatory mathematical model.
PS Many entomological authors say that 'Melpomene' is for the Greek Muse of Tragedy. It seems to me equally possible that it's for another meaning of the same word, namely: Dance. If you watch these colorful Butterflies: no Tragedy, but all Dancing in the Air.