The color pattern of H. heurippa appears to be a combination of the patterns found on H. cydno and H. melpomene. Natural hybrids from San Cristóbal, Táchira, Venezuela, display wing patterns very similar to H. heurippa, supporting the hypothesis of a hybrid origin for the species.[4]
A team from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama attempted to recreate H. heurippa by breeding H. cydno with H. melpomene.[5] In only three generations of hybridization, the investigators developed butterflies with wing patterns almost identical to those of H. heurippa[6][7] that may be very similar to the first H. heurippa individuals.[7]
Butterflies within Heliconius are "extremely choosey" about finding mates with wing patterns that match their own,[8] and H. heurippa males given a choice between mating with females of H. heurippa, H. cydno, or H. melpomene species were 75 to 90 percent more likely to choose their own kind.[5] They were similarly discriminating when presented with photographs of wing patterns instead of actual mates.[7] The wing patterns of H. heurippa individuals also make them undesirable as mates for members of their parents' species as well,[8] showing evidence for reproductive isolation between H. heurippa and its putative parental species.[7]
Skeptics wish to see further genetic sequencing demonstrating that wild H. heurippa is a hybrid similar to the laboratory-developed animals,[5] and the H. heurippa hybrid speciation hypothesis has been the subject of a recent (2011) critical review.[9] There is evidence to suggest that the genome of H. heurippa may be a mosaic.[10]
The species H. timareta and H. pachinus[10] are also proposed to result from the hybridization of H. cydno and H. melpomene.[8]
