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LEPIDOPTERA

Parnassius apollonius
Parnassius apollonius apollonius Eversmann, 1847

· TYPE LOCALITY. "Songaria" [Dzhungarsky Alatau, Kazakhstan].
· RANGE. Central and S. Kazakhstan, the S. Altai, Saur, Tarbagatai, Dzhungarsky Alatau, Tian-Shan, Ghissar-Darvaz, the Pamirs-Alai; W. China.
· DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. A lot of subspecies/varieties have been described, among which the most well-known are as follows: ssp. poseidon Bryk et Eisner, 1934 from W. Tian-Shan; ssp. glaucopis Bryk et Eisner, 1934 from S. Kazakhstan (the vicinity of Dzhambul); ssp. gloriosus Fruhstorfer, 1904 from N. Tian-Shan; ssp. narynus Fruhstorfer, 1908 from Inner Tian-Shan; ssp. alpinus Staudinger, 1887 from Alai and ssp. daubi Fruhstorfer, 1903 from Ghissar. The nominate subspecies is distributed in the S. Altai, Saur, Tarbagatai and Dzhungarsky Alatau; similar to it is the ssp. aphrodite Bryk et Eisner, 1934 from the Ili River valley. Individual variation is especially strong in females.
· HABITATS AND BIOLOGY . The species occupies a very broad altitudinal zone from 500 m (in the Ili and Irtysh River valleys) to 3,000 m a.s.l. in Alai. Flight over dry mountain slopes in May-July depending on the altitude. Host plants : Pseudosedum, Rosularia spp. Hibernation as eggs or earlier larval instars inside the chorion.

Photo and text: Guide to the BUTTERFLIES OF RUSSIA and adjacent territories Volume 1. PENSOFT, Sofia - Moscow. 1997