LEPIDOPTERA
PAPILIONIDAE Latreille,1802
PARNASSIUS Latreille,1804
Parnassius phoebus Fabricius, 1793
Parnassius phoebus intermedius Menetries, 1851
· SYNONYMS: delius Esper, 1800.
· RANGE. Mountains of W. Europe, the N. Urals, the ?Caucasus, the Altai and Siberia to the Ussuri region, polar areas of Siberia and the Far East, ?Sakhalin; N. America.
· DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. Besides the nominate subspecies, the following should be mentioned: ssp. intermedius Menetries, 1851 from the S. Altai; ssp. fortuna 0. Bang-Haas, 1912 from Transbaikalia; ssp. ochotskensis Bryk et Eisner, 1931 from the near-coastal mountains of the Russian Far East, ssp. uralensis Menetries, 1859 from the Polar Urals; ssp. interpositus Herz, 1903 from Yakutia, ssp. sedakovi [Menetries] in Siemaschko, [1850] from the Baikal region; ssp. corybas Fischer van Waldheim, 1824 (= kamtchatica Menetries, 1859) from Kamchatka. The taxon alpestris Verity, 1911 from the Altai should be regarded as a small high-montane form.
· HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Alpine meadows, mountain tundras at 1,800-3,000 m a.s.l.; in the northern part of the range, it occurs also in plain landscapes at craggy river banks, over clayey and stony slopes and even in marshy habitats. Plight period: June-July. Host plants: Rhodiola rosea, Sedum spp., Saxifraga spp.
· SIMILAR SPECIES. P. bremeri. larger, black veins sharply defined against the ground color, HW lacks red basal spot.
Photo and text: Guide to the BUTTERFLIES OF RUSSIA and adjacent territories Volume 1. PENSOFT, Sofia - Moscow. 1997