[4] A team from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama attempted to recreate H. heurippa by breeding H. cydno with H.

[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.