FIGURE 38 in Alternative facts: a reconsideration of putatively natural interspecific hybrid specimens in the genus Heliconius (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

FIGURE 38. Hybrid #22 (dorsal, ventral). Brazil: Espirito Santo, Santa Leopoldina (or Minas Jerais, Leopoldina), prior to 1908, from the Riffarth collection (NHMUK). Mallet et al. (2007) followed Brown (1976) in interpreting this as a potential F1 between H. ethilla narcaea (Fig. 39) and H. numata ethra (Fig. 40). Neither offered any explanation of the characters leading to their determination. H. ethilla from southeastern Brazil typically has a single roundish white apical spot on the forewing, while H. numata has a broken yellow band or row of three yellow spots. This specimen has a row of whitish spots. The medial yellow forewing band of this specimen is similar to that of H. ethilla. Thus, perhaps it is a hybrid.