Postman butterfly
The postman butterfly is black with bright red or yellow bands on its long wings. Those bright colours are a warning: it is poisonous, so birds learn to leave it alone. It is also one of the few butterflies that eats pollen.

How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its caterpillars take the poison from passion flower leaves and keep it in their bodies to protect themselves.
It looks almost the same as another butterfly, the red postman. Both are poisonous, so birds learn one lesson for two butterflies.
It can see ultraviolet light, which helps it spot tiny differences in other butterflies' wings.
Pollen sticks to its long tongue as it feeds, so it helps flowers make seeds.
In different places it has different wing patterns, so scientists love to study it.
Most asked questions about Postman butterfly
?Is the postman butterfly poisonous?
Yes. It tastes bad and is poisonous to birds, and its bright colours warn them.
?What does the postman butterfly eat?
Grown-ups drink nectar and eat pollen. The caterpillars eat passion flower leaves.
?Where does the postman butterfly live?
In Central and South America, especially on the slopes of the Andes mountains.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Heliconius melpomene
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Common postman, Postman
Where the facts come from
- Heliconius melpomene (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Ltshears. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.