even if now Heliconius timareta has been found in Southern Colombia and Northern Peru, it nevertheless is essentially an Ecuadorian species.
it is quite common in the North of Sangay NP, with a wide variety of forms (see detailed map on the new facts page).
the fact is that many forms have been described, but they're variable, leave room for many intergrades and don't follow any geographic logic.
we would tend to consider that three forms - one stable, and two highly variable - would be enough :
- form 1 - FW black with a yellow cluster, HW black - nominate form, stable
- form 2 - same as above but with a variable series of red rays on the HW - includes virgata, contigua, insolita, peregrina
- form 3 - same as #1 but with a complete red dennis on both wings - includes strandi, richardi
as for the "Peruvian ssp", a female collected not far from the border with Ecuador, it is just a form 3 specimen and not a ssp.
