Henry Walter Bates
Encyclopedia
Henry Walter Bates FRS FLS FGS (Leicester
, 8 February 1825 – London, 16 February 1892) was an English
naturalist
and explorer who gave the first scientific account of mimicry in animals. He was most famous for his expedition to the Amazon
with Alfred Russel Wallace
in 1848. Wallace returned in 1852, but lost his collection in a shipwreck. When Bates arrived home in 1859 after a full eleven years, he had sent back over 14,000 species (mostly of insect
s) of which 8,000 were new to science.
and, like Wallace, T.H. Huxley and some other British scientists of the time, he had no formal education in science, and left school at 12. He came from a literate middle-class family and taught himself mainly by reading (like Wallace, Huxley and Herbert Spencer
, he was an auto-didact). At 13 he became apprenticed to a hosier. He joined the Mechanics' Institute (which had a library), studied in his spare time, and collected insects in Charnwood Forest
. In 1843 he had a short paper on beetles published in the journal Zoologist.
Bates became friends with Wallace when the latter took a teaching post in the Leicester Collegiate School. Wallace was also a keen entomologist, and he had read the same kind of books as Bates had, and as Darwin, Huxley and no doubt many others had. Malthus on population, James Hutton
and Lyell
on geology, Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle, and above all, the anonymous Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
, which put evolution into everyday discussion amongst literate folk. They also read William H. Edwards on his Amazon expedition, and this started them thinking that a visit the region would be exciting, and might launch their careers.
, the plan being to cover expenses by sending specimens back to London. There an agent would sell them for a commission. The main purpose was for the travellers to "gather facts towards solving the problem of the origin of species", as Wallace put it in a letter to Bates. The two friends, who were both by now experienced amateur entomologists, met in London to prepare themselves. This they did by viewing South American plants and animals in the main collections. Also they collected 'wants lists' of the desires of museums and collectors. Letters survive in the Kew Garden library of letters from the pair asking what plants the Director (then William Jackson Hooker
) would like them to find.
Bates and Wallace sailed from Liverpool
in April 1848, arriving in Pará (now Belém
) at the end of May. For the first year they settled in a villa near the city, collecting birds and insects. After that they agreed to collect independently, Bates travelling to Cametá on the Tocantins River
. He then moved up the Amazon, to Óbidos
, Manaus
and finally to the Upper Amazon (Solimões
). Tefé
was his base-camp for four and a half years. His health eventually deteriorated and he returned to England, sending his collection by three different ships to avoid the same fate as Wallace. He spent the next three years writing his account of the trip, The Naturalist on the River Amazons
, widely regarded as one of the finest reports of natural history travels.
(effectively, he was the Secretary, since the senior post was occupied by a noble figurehead). He sold his personal Lepidoptera
collection to Godman
and Salvin
and began to work mostly on beetles (cerambycids, carabids, and cicindelids). From 1868-9 and 1878 he was President of the Entomological Society of London. In 1871 he was elected a Fellow of the Linnaean Society, and in 1881 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
.
He died of bronchitis
in 1892 (in modern terms, that may mean emphysema
). A large part of his collections are in the Natural History Museum
(see The Field, London, February 20, 1892). Specimens he collected went to the Natural History Museum [then called the BM(NH)] and to private collectors; yet Bates still retained a huge reference collection and was often consulted on difficult identifications. This, and the disposal of the collection after his death, are mentioned in Edward Clodd
's Memories.
Henry Bates was one of a group of outstanding naturalist-explorers who were supporters of the theory of evolution
by natural selection
(Charles Darwin
and Alfred Russel Wallace
1858). Other members of this group included J.D. Hooker, Fritz Müller
, Richard Spruce
and Thomas Henry Huxley.
Bates' work on Amazonian butterflies led him to develop the first scientific account of mimicry, especially the kind of mimicry which bears his name: Batesian mimicry
. This is the mimicry by a palatable species of an unpalatable or noxious species. A common example seen in temperate gardens is the hover-fly, many of which – though bearing no sting – mimic the warning colouration of hymenoptera
(wasps and bees). Such mimicry does not need to be perfect to improve the survival of the palatable species.
Bates noted of the Heliconids (long-wings) that they were forest-dwellers who were:
And yet, said Bates "I never saw the flocks of slow-flying Heliconidae in the woods persecuted by birds or dragonflies... nor when at rest did they appear to be molested by lizards, or predacious flies of the family Asilidae
[robber-flies] which were very often seen pouncing on butterflies of other families... In contrast, the Pieridae
(sulfur butterflies), to which Leptalis belongs [now called Dismorphia
] are much persecuted."
Bates observed that a large number of the Heliconid species are accompanied in the districts they inhabit by other species (Pierids), which counterfeit them, and often cannot be distinguished from them in flight. They fly in the same parts of the forest as the model (Heliconid) and often in company with them. Local races of the model are accompanied by corresponding races or species of the mimic. So a scarce, edible species assumes the appearance of an abundant robust, noxious species. Predators learn to avoid the noxious species, and a degree of protection covers the edible species, no doubt proportional to its degree of likeness to the model. All aspects of this situation can be, and have been, the subject of research. Thus began a field of research which is still quite active today.
Bates, Wallace and Müller believed that Batesian and Müllerian mimicry
provided evidence for the action of natural selection
, a view which is now standard amongst biologists. Field and experimental work on these ideas continues to this day; the topic connects strongly to speciation
, genetics
and development
.
) in the Upper Amazon (Solimões
), where he reports that turtle
was eaten regularly, and insect catches were especially abundant. He found upwards of 7,000 species of insects in the area, including 550 distinct species of butterfly. Bates nursed a sick toucan
back to health. Tocáno (the Indian name, after its cries) proved to be an intelligent and amusing companion, with a voracious appetite. Mainly a fruit-eater, he learnt the meal-times "to a nicety", and would eat flesh and fish as well as fruit.
changed even some of the Spanish names, and almost all the islands are now differently named from Darwin's account. Furthermore, Darwin's finches
, whatever they may be, are not finches! It is a good idea to keep lists of such name changes as one reads the older texts.
Heliconiidae. He divided this assemblage into two groups, the Danaoids, having affinities with the great family Danaidae; and Acraeoids related to the Acraeinae. The former are now known as Danainae, the milkweed butterflies, main genus Danaus
. The latter are now known as the subfamily Heliconiinae
, the long-wings, main genus Heliconius
. Both are subfamilies in the Nymphalidae
, and both groups tend to feed on poisonous plants. The milkweed plant supplies poisonous glycosides which render both caterpillar and imago Danaids noxious, and the Heliconid caterpillars feed on poisonous Passiflora vines.
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, 8 February 1825 – London, 16 February 1892) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
and explorer who gave the first scientific account of mimicry in animals. He was most famous for his expedition to the Amazon
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...
with Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace, OM, FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist...
in 1848. Wallace returned in 1852, but lost his collection in a shipwreck. When Bates arrived home in 1859 after a full eleven years, he had sent back over 14,000 species (mostly of insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s) of which 8,000 were new to science.
Life
Bates was born in LeicesterLeicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
and, like Wallace, T.H. Huxley and some other British scientists of the time, he had no formal education in science, and left school at 12. He came from a literate middle-class family and taught himself mainly by reading (like Wallace, Huxley and Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
, he was an auto-didact). At 13 he became apprenticed to a hosier. He joined the Mechanics' Institute (which had a library), studied in his spare time, and collected insects in Charnwood Forest
Charnwood Forest
Charnwood Forest is an upland tract in north-western Leicestershire, England, bounded by Leicester, Loughborough, and Coalville. The area is undulating, rocky and picturesque, with barren areas. It also has some extensive tracts of woodland; its elevation is generally 600 ft and upwards, the area...
. In 1843 he had a short paper on beetles published in the journal Zoologist.
Bates became friends with Wallace when the latter took a teaching post in the Leicester Collegiate School. Wallace was also a keen entomologist, and he had read the same kind of books as Bates had, and as Darwin, Huxley and no doubt many others had. Malthus on population, James Hutton
James Hutton
James Hutton was a Scottish physician, geologist, naturalist, chemical manufacturer and experimental agriculturalist. He is considered the father of modern geology...
and Lyell
Lyell
Lyell is a surname of Scotland traced to Radulphus de Insula, 11th-century Lord of Duchal. "De insula" was subsequently translated into the Old French "de l'isle" and developed into a number of variants...
on geology, Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle, and above all, the anonymous Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation is a unique work of speculative natural history published anonymously in England in 1844. It brought together various ideas of stellar evolution with the progressive transmutation of species in an accessible narrative which tied together numerous...
, which put evolution into everyday discussion amongst literate folk. They also read William H. Edwards on his Amazon expedition, and this started them thinking that a visit the region would be exciting, and might launch their careers.
The great adventure
In 1847 Wallace and Bates discussed the idea of an expedition to the Amazon rainforestRainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
, the plan being to cover expenses by sending specimens back to London. There an agent would sell them for a commission. The main purpose was for the travellers to "gather facts towards solving the problem of the origin of species", as Wallace put it in a letter to Bates. The two friends, who were both by now experienced amateur entomologists, met in London to prepare themselves. This they did by viewing South American plants and animals in the main collections. Also they collected 'wants lists' of the desires of museums and collectors. Letters survive in the Kew Garden library of letters from the pair asking what plants the Director (then William Jackson Hooker
William Jackson Hooker
Sir William Jackson Hooker, FRS was an English systematic botanist and organiser. He held the post of Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow University, and was the first Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He enjoyed the friendship and support of Sir Joseph Banks for his exploring,...
) would like them to find.
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
in April 1848, arriving in Pará (now Belém
Belém
Belém is a Brazilian city, the capital and largest city of state of Pará, in the country's north region. It is the entrance gate to the Amazon with a busy port, airport and bus/coach station...
) at the end of May. For the first year they settled in a villa near the city, collecting birds and insects. After that they agreed to collect independently, Bates travelling to Cametá on the Tocantins River
Tocantins River
The Tocantins is a river in Brazil, the central fluvial artery of the country. In the Tupi language, its name means "toucan's beak" . It runs from south to north for about 2,640 km. It is not really a branch of the Amazon River, although usually so considered, since its waters flow into the...
. He then moved up the Amazon, to Óbidos
Óbidos, Pará
Óbidos is a town in Pará, Brazil located at the narrowest and swiftest part of the Amazon River. Its an old town founded in 1697, and located between Santarém and Oriximiná. The town is the seat of the Diocese of Óbidos. The town was named after Óbidos, Portugal.-Further...
, Manaus
Manaus
Manaus is a city in Brazil, the capital of the state of Amazonas. It is situated at the confluence of the Negro and Solimões rivers. It is the most populous city of Amazonas, according to the statistics of Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, and is a popular ecotourist destination....
and finally to the Upper Amazon (Solimões
Solimões
Solimões is the name often given to early stretches of the Amazon River from the border of Brazil and Peru to its confluence with the Rio Negro.Further upstream from the border, the name of the river seems to depend on the speaker...
). Tefé
Tefé
Tefé is a city and a municipality in the state of Amazonas in Brazil. Its population was 70,809 as of 2005 and its area is 23,704 km². It is located about 500 km to the west of Manaus on the south bank of the Rio Solimões....
was his base-camp for four and a half years. His health eventually deteriorated and he returned to England, sending his collection by three different ships to avoid the same fate as Wallace. He spent the next three years writing his account of the trip, The Naturalist on the River Amazons
The Naturalist on the River Amazons
The Naturalist on the River Amazons, subtitled A Record of the Adventures, Habits of Animals, Sketches of Brazilian and Indian Life, and Aspects of Nature under the Equator, during Eleven Years of Travel, is an 1863 book by the British naturalist Henry Walter Bates about his expedition to the...
, widely regarded as one of the finest reports of natural history travels.
Home at last
In 1861 he married Sarah Ann Mason. From 1864 onwards, he worked as Assistant Secretary of the Royal Geographical SocietyRoyal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
(effectively, he was the Secretary, since the senior post was occupied by a noble figurehead). He sold his personal Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
collection to Godman
Frederick DuCane Godman
Frederick DuCane Godman D.C.L., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S., F.R.G.S., F.E.S., F.Z.S., M.R.I., F.R.H.S., M.B.O.U. was an English lepidopterist, entomologist and ornithologist....
and Salvin
Osbert Salvin
Osbert Salvin FRS was an English naturalist, best known for co-authoring Biologia Centrali-Americana with Frederick DuCane Godman. This was a 52 volume encyclopedia on the natural history of Central America....
and began to work mostly on beetles (cerambycids, carabids, and cicindelids). From 1868-9 and 1878 he was President of the Entomological Society of London. In 1871 he was elected a Fellow of the Linnaean Society, and in 1881 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
.
He died of bronchitis
Bronchitis
Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the large bronchi in the lungs that is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Characteristic symptoms include cough, sputum production, and shortness of breath and wheezing related to the obstruction of the inflamed airways...
in 1892 (in modern terms, that may mean emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
). A large part of his collections are in the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
(see The Field, London, February 20, 1892). Specimens he collected went to the Natural History Museum [then called the BM(NH)] and to private collectors; yet Bates still retained a huge reference collection and was often consulted on difficult identifications. This, and the disposal of the collection after his death, are mentioned in Edward Clodd
Edward Clodd
Edward Clodd was an English banker, writer and anthropologist. He cultivated a very wide circle of literary and scientific friends, who periodically met at Whitsun gatherings at his home at Aldeburgh, Suffolk....
's Memories.
His work
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
by natural selection
Natural selection
Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
(Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
and Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace, OM, FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist...
1858). Other members of this group included J.D. Hooker, Fritz Müller
Fritz Müller
Johann Friedrich Theodor Müller , better known as Fritz Müller, and also as Müller-Desterro, was a German biologist and physician who emigrated to southern Brazil, where he lived in and near the German community of Blumenau, Santa Catarina...
, Richard Spruce
Richard Spruce
Richard Spruce was an English botanist. One of the great Victorian botanical explorers, Spruce spent approximately 15 years exploring the Amazon from the Andes to the mouth, and was one of the first Europeans to visit many of the places where he collected specimens.The plants and objects collected...
and Thomas Henry Huxley.
Bates' work on Amazonian butterflies led him to develop the first scientific account of mimicry, especially the kind of mimicry which bears his name: Batesian mimicry
Batesian mimicry
Batesian mimicry is a form of mimicry typified by a situation where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a common predator...
. This is the mimicry by a palatable species of an unpalatable or noxious species. A common example seen in temperate gardens is the hover-fly, many of which – though bearing no sting – mimic the warning colouration of hymenoptera
Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera is one of the largest orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees and ants. There are over 130,000 recognized species, with many more remaining to be described. The name refers to the heavy wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek ὑμήν : membrane and...
(wasps and bees). Such mimicry does not need to be perfect to improve the survival of the palatable species.
- 1. abundant 2. conspicuous and slow-flying. 3. gregarious; and also 4. the adults frequented flowers. 5. the larvae fed together.
And yet, said Bates "I never saw the flocks of slow-flying Heliconidae in the woods persecuted by birds or dragonflies... nor when at rest did they appear to be molested by lizards, or predacious flies of the family Asilidae
Asilidae
Insects in the Diptera family Asilidae are commonly called robber flies. The family Asilidae contains about 7,100 described species worldwide....
[robber-flies] which were very often seen pouncing on butterflies of other families... In contrast, the Pieridae
Pieridae
The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing approximately 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and Asia. Most pierid butterflies are white, yellow or orange in coloration, often with black spots...
(sulfur butterflies), to which Leptalis belongs [now called Dismorphia
Dismorphia
Dismorphia is a genus of butterflies in the subfamily Dismorphiinae.-List of species:* Dismorphia altis Fassl, 1910* Dismorphia amphione * Dismorphia arcadia Dismorphia is a genus of butterflies in the subfamily Dismorphiinae.-List of species:* Dismorphia altis Fassl, 1910* Dismorphia amphione...
] are much persecuted."
Bates observed that a large number of the Heliconid species are accompanied in the districts they inhabit by other species (Pierids), which counterfeit them, and often cannot be distinguished from them in flight. They fly in the same parts of the forest as the model (Heliconid) and often in company with them. Local races of the model are accompanied by corresponding races or species of the mimic. So a scarce, edible species assumes the appearance of an abundant robust, noxious species. Predators learn to avoid the noxious species, and a degree of protection covers the edible species, no doubt proportional to its degree of likeness to the model. All aspects of this situation can be, and have been, the subject of research. Thus began a field of research which is still quite active today.
Bates, Wallace and Müller believed that Batesian and 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...
provided evidence for the action of natural selection
Natural selection
Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
, a view which is now standard amongst biologists. Field and experimental work on these ideas continues to this day; the topic connects strongly to speciation
Speciation
Speciation is the evolutionary process by which new biological species arise. The biologist Orator F. Cook seems to have been the first to coin the term 'speciation' for the splitting of lineages or 'cladogenesis,' as opposed to 'anagenesis' or 'phyletic evolution' occurring within lineages...
, genetics
Genetics
Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
and development
Developmental biology
Developmental biology is the study of the process by which organisms grow and develop. Modern developmental biology studies the genetic control of cell growth, differentiation and "morphogenesis", which is the process that gives rise to tissues, organs and anatomy.- Related fields of study...
.
Ega
Bates spent the best part of a year at Ega (now TeféTefé
Tefé is a city and a municipality in the state of Amazonas in Brazil. Its population was 70,809 as of 2005 and its area is 23,704 km². It is located about 500 km to the west of Manaus on the south bank of the Rio Solimões....
) in the Upper Amazon (Solimões
Solimões
Solimões is the name often given to early stretches of the Amazon River from the border of Brazil and Peru to its confluence with the Rio Negro.Further upstream from the border, the name of the river seems to depend on the speaker...
), where he reports that turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
was eaten regularly, and insect catches were especially abundant. He found upwards of 7,000 species of insects in the area, including 550 distinct species of butterfly. Bates nursed a sick toucan
Toucan
Toucans are members of the family Ramphastidae of near passerine birds from the Neotropics. The family is most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five genera and about forty different species...
back to health. Tocáno (the Indian name, after its cries) proved to be an intelligent and amusing companion, with a voracious appetite. Mainly a fruit-eater, he learnt the meal-times "to a nicety", and would eat flesh and fish as well as fruit.
Name changes
There have been many changes in place names, and some in taxonomic names since Bates' time. It is an awkward fact of historical biology that place names, species names and higher classification are apt to change as times passes. A good example is the Galápagos islands, where the government of EcuadorEcuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
changed even some of the Spanish names, and almost all the islands are now differently named from Darwin's account. Furthermore, Darwin's finches
Darwin's finches
Darwin's finches are a group of 14 or 15 species of passerine birds. It is still not clear which bird family they belong to, but they are not related to the true finches. They were first collected by Charles Darwin on the Galápagos Islands during the second voyage of the Beagle...
, whatever they may be, are not finches! It is a good idea to keep lists of such name changes as one reads the older texts.
Taxonomy
Bates' original work was done on a group of conspicuous butterflies which he knew as the familyFamily (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Heliconiidae. He divided this assemblage into two groups, the Danaoids, having affinities with the great family Danaidae; and Acraeoids related to the Acraeinae. The former are now known as Danainae, the milkweed butterflies, main genus Danaus
Danaus
In Greek mythology Danaus, or Danaos , was the twin brother of Aegyptus and son of Achiroe and Belus, a mythical king of Egypt. The myth of Danaus is a foundation legend of Argos, one of the foremost Mycenaean cities of the Peloponnesus...
. The latter are now known as the subfamily Heliconiinae
Heliconiinae
The Heliconiinae, commonly called heliconians or longwings, are a subfamily of the brush-footed butterflies . They can be divided into 45-50 genera and were sometimes treated as a separate family Heliconiidae within the Papilionoidea...
, the long-wings, main genus 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...
. Both are subfamilies in the Nymphalidae
Nymphalidae
The Nymphalidae is a family of about 5,000 species of butterflies which are distributed throughout most of the world. These are usually medium sized to large butterflies. Most species have a reduced pair of forelegs and many hold their colourful wings flat when resting. They are also called...
, and both groups tend to feed on poisonous plants. The milkweed plant supplies poisonous glycosides which render both caterpillar and imago Danaids noxious, and the Heliconid caterpillars feed on poisonous Passiflora vines.
Further reading
- Blaisdell, M. (1982). "Natural theology and nature's disguises". Journal of the History of Biology. 15: 163–189.
- Crawforth, Anthony. (2009) The Butterfly Hunter: The life of Henry Walter Bates, University of Buckingham Press, ISBN 9780956071613.
External links
- Insecta. Coleoptera Links to three volumes authored or co-authored by Bates
- Obituary from Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, volume XIV, 1892, pages 245 - 257
- Bragg,P.E., Biographies of Phasmatologists – 1. Henry Walter Bates