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| Common Postman (Heliconius melpomene) |
A species is a group of organisms that can interbreed in nature to produce a fertile offspring. It is a unit of biodiversity or the degree of variation of organic life forms within a given species, ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet.
Within a group of species, new biological species may arise. This is called speciation. It is the splitting from a main branch of species to form an altogether new line.
One such such species being studied and used as models for speciation are the Heliconius butterflies. Hybrid speciation has been hypothesized to occur in this genus and may contribute to the diverse mimicry found in Heliconius butterflies. The species Heliconius Heurippa is said to be a hybridized version of two Heliconius species; Heliconius Cydno and Heliconius Melpomene. Hybrid speciation is a form of speciation wherein hybridization between two different closely related species such as the two heliconius butterfiles leads to a novel species; the heliconius heurippa.
This form of speciation is popular among plants but is considered extremely rare outside of the plant world.
Colorful butterflies increase their odds of survival by sharing traits
Bright black-and-red butterflies that flit across the sunlit edges of Amazonian rain forests are natural hedonists, and it does them good, according to genetic data published today in the journal Nature.
An international consortium of researchers at UC Irvine and elsewhere discovered that different species of the Heliconius butterfly are crossbreeding to more quickly acquire superior wing colors. They also have a surprisingly large number of genes devoted to smell and taste.
The use of color to attract mates and fend off predators is widespread in daytime-loving butterflies, while night-flying moths are famous for having large antennae to sniff out potential mates' pheromones. Thus, researchers predicted that because they're such visual creatures, the butterflies would not be able to smell or taste very well.
