The Postman Butterfly

The Postman butterfly (Heliconius melpomene) is a species that you can almost always see flitting about in the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing. Some butterflies live only a week or two but this Central and South American species lives a fairly long time—two to three months.

While most butterflies come in just one or two different variations, the Postman has more than 150 different variations, called morphs. They display a broad array of colors and patterns.

It gets its distinctive name because of its daily travel route, which is the same from day to day, from flower to flower, just like a postman on his route from postbox to postbox every day. Come see it for yourself!