The Numata Longwing is a brush-footed butterfly species native to most of South America, known for its mimicry of Melinaea

Ithomiini

Ithomiini is a butterfly tribe in the nymphalid subfamily Danainae. Some authors consider the group to be a subfamily . These butterflies are exclusively Neotropical, found in humid forests from sea-level to 3000 m, from the southwestern United States to Argentina...

 butterflies. Both H. numata and the species of Melinaea it resembles are unpalatable to predators, making this a case of Müllerian mimicry

Müllerian mimicry

Müllerian mimicry is a natural phenomenon when two or more harmful species, that may or may not be closely related and share one or more common predators, have come to mimic each other's warning signals...

, a mutualistic reinforcement of the same negative signal.

Description

H. numatus is a neotropical species, less common in virgin forest than in areas of secondary growth. Both males and females are attracted to red or orange flowers, or indeed to pieces of cloth colored red or orange. Eggs and larvae are typically found on low-growing vines of Passiflora.

Subspecies

• Heliconius numata numata (Surinam, French Guiana, Guyana)
• Heliconius numata silvana (Stoll, 1781) (Surinam, Guyana, Venezuela, Guatemala, Brazil: Pará, Amazonas)
• Heliconius numata ethra (Hübner, [1831]) (Brazil: Espírito Santo)
• Heliconius numata aristiona Hewitson, [1853] (Bolivia, Peru)
• Heliconius numata aurora Bates, 1862 (Brazil: Amazonas, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru)
• Heliconius numata euphone C. & R. Felder, 1862 (Colombia, Ecuador)
• Heliconius numata messene C. & R. Felder, 1862 (Colombia)
• Heliconius numata bicoloratus Butler, 1873 (Peru)
• Heliconius numata arcuella Druce, 1874 (Peru)
• Heliconius numata nubifer Butler, 1875 (Brazil: Amazonas)
• Heliconius numata superioris Butler, 1875 (Brazil: Amazonas, Pará, Venezuela)
• Heliconius numata robigus Weymer, 1875 (Venezuela)
• Heliconius numata aulicus Weymer, 1883 (Venezuela)
• Heliconius numata lenaeus Weymer, 1891 (Ecuador)
• Heliconius numata lyrcaeus Weymer, 1891 (Peru)
• Heliconius numata geminatus Weymer, 1894 (Brazil: Amazonas)
• Heliconius numata illustris Weymer, 1894(Peru)
• Heliconius numata mavors Weymer, 1894 (Brazil: Amazonas)
• Heliconius numata mirus Weymer, 1894 (Bolivia)
• Heliconius numata tarapotensis Riffarth, 1901 (Peru)
• Heliconius numata zobrysi Fruhstorfer, 1910 (Brazil: Mato Grosso)
• Heliconius numata ignotus Joicey & Kaye, 1917 (Peru)
• Heliconius numata talboti Joicey & Kaye, 1917 (Peru)
• Heliconius numata pratti Joicey & Kaye, 1917 (Peru)
• Heliconius numata peeblesi Joicey & Talbot, 1925 (Venezuela)
• Heliconius numata jiparanaensis Neustetter, 1931 (Brazil: Rondônia)
• Heliconius numata holzingeri Fernández & Brown, 1976 (Venezuela)
• Heliconius numata sourensis Brown, 1976 (Brazil: Pará)