Heliconius heurippa is a butterfly

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

 of the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Heliconius

Heliconius

Heliconius comprise a colorful and widespread brush-footed butterfly genus distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the New World. These butterflies utilize Passion flower plants as their larval food source and rely on bright wing color patterns to signal their distastefulness...

that is believed by some scientists to be a separate species from—but a hybrid of—the species Heliconius cydno

Heliconius cydno

Heliconius cydno is a nymphalid butterfly commonly known as the Cydno Longwing that ranges from Mexico to northern South America....

and Heliconius melpomene

Heliconius melpomene

The Postman Butterfly, Common Postman, or simply Postman is one of the Heliconiine butterflies found from Mexico to northern South America. Several species in the genus have very similar markings and are difficult to distinguish.- Subspecies :Subspecies of Heliconius melpomene include:*...

, making H. heurippa an example of hybrid speciation

Hybrid speciation

Hybrid speciation is the process wherein hybridization between two different closely related species leads to a distinct phenotype. This phenotype in very rare cases can also be fitter than the parental lineage and as such natural selection may then favor these individuals. Eventually, if...

.

Hybridation

The color pattern of H. heurippa appears to be a combination of the patterns found on H. cydno and H. melpomene. Natural hybrids from San Cristóbal, Táchira

San Cristóbal, Táchira

San Cristóbal is the capital city of the Venezuelan state of Táchira. It is located in a mountainous region of Western Venezuela. The city is situated 818 m/2,625 ft above sea level in the northern Andes overlooking the Torbes River, 56 km/35 mi from the Colombian border. San...

, Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

, display wing patterns very similar to H. heurippa, supporting the hypothesis of a hybrid origin for the species.

A team from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, the only bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States, is dedicated to understanding biological diversity. What began in 1923 as small field station on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal Zone has developed...

 in Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

 attempted to recreate H. heurippa by breeding H. cydno with H. melpomene. In only three generations of hybridization, the investigators developed butterflies with wing patterns almost identical to those of H. heurippa that may be very similar to the first H. heurippa individuals.

Butterflies within Heliconius are "extremely choosey" about finding mates with wing patterns that match their own, and H. heurippa

H. heurippa males given a choice between mating with females of H. heurippa, H. cydno, or H. melpomene species were 75 to 90 percent more likely to choose their own kind, and similarly discriminating when presented with photographs of wing patterns instead of actual mates. The wing patterns of H. heurippa individuals also make them undesirable as mates for members of their parents' species as well, demonstrating evidence of reproductive isolation

Reproductive isolation

The mechanisms of reproductive isolation or hybridization barriers are a collection of mechanisms, behaviors and physiological processes that prevent the members of two different species that cross or mate from producing offspring, or which ensure that any offspring that may be produced is not...

 between H. heurippa and its putative parental species.

Skeptics wish to see further genetic sequencing

Genetic sequencing

Genetic Sequencing may refer to:* DNA sequencing* Full genome sequencing...

 demonstrating that wild H. heurippa is a hybrid similar to the laboratory-developed animals. There is evidence to suggest that the genome

Genome

In modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA....

 of H. heurippa may be a mosaic

Mosaic (genetics)

In genetic medicine, a mosaic or mosaicism denotes the presence of two populations of cells with different genotypes in one individual who has developed from a single fertilized egg...

.

The species Heliconius timareta and Heliconius pachinus are also proposed to result from hybridization of H. cydno and H. melpomene.

A recent article by Brower (2011) provides a critical examination of the data used to support the H. heurippa hybrid speciation hypothesis.