The forewings are white and transparent at the margin.  There are five big black spots on wings and a black powdered area aroud the body.
The underside is semi matt and a copy of upside.

The hind wings are white. There is a dark powdered zone around the body. At the margin there is a dark band. One little black and two very big red spots with white cores are on the wing.
The underside  is white with some big red spots.

The body is white and very hairy, but the upside is black.

Sex differences: None

The flight period of the Apollo is from July - August.

The first description of this butterfly was in 1758 by Linnaeus. The Apollo like low temperature. After the last ice age the distribution break to pieces. Because of the isolation of the population there are many subspecies.

• Parnassius apollo alpherakyi     [Krulikowsky, 1906]
• Parnassius apollo democratus     [Kulikowsky, 1906]
• Parnassius apollo finmarchicus     [Rothschild, 1906]
• Parnassius apollo graecus    [Ziegler, 1901]
• Parnassius apollo hesebolus     [Nordmann, 1851]
• Parnassius apollo jelicus     [Fruhstorfer, 1921]
• Parnassius apollo kashtsehenko     [Sheljuzhko, 1908]
• Parnassius apollo leovigildus     [Fruhstorfer, 1909]
• Parnassius apollo limicola     [Stichel, 1906]
• Parnassius apollo meinhardi     [Sheljuzhko, 1924]
• Parnassius apollo merzbacheri     [Fruhstorfer, 1906]
• Parnassius apollo ottonius     [Fruhstorfer, 1909]
• Parnassius apollo rhea     [Poda, 1761]
• Parnassius apollo rosenius     [Fruhstorfer, 1923]
• Parnassius apollo sibiricus     [Nordmann, 1851]
• Parnassius apollo suaneticus     [Arnold, 1909]

The caterpillar is black with two chains of yellow or orange spots at side. The pupa has a silken cocoon. This species overwinters as egg.

The distribution of Apollo overlap with the distributions of Small Apollo (Parnassius phoebus).
The following differentiators are very useful to differ these similar species.

• The Apollo is bigger than the Small Apollo.
• The Small Apollo has red spots on forewings.
• The antennae of Small Apollo are striped in white and black.
• The antennae of Apollo are white.
  
  
  

• CITES: (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora):
  
  -strictly protected; affix I- (as at 23.06.2005)
  
  
• EU regulation on trading with species of wild Fauna and Flora
  
  -strictly protected; affix A- (as at 19.08.2005)
  
  
• IUCN Red List of threatened species:
  
  -endangered- (as at 2004)  (see: www.redlist.org/)
  
  
• Red List of endangered species of Austria:
  
  -endangered- (category 3)-   (see: www.roteliste.at/)
  
  
• Regulation of the Viennese regional government:
  
  -protected as imago-  (see: www.wien.gv.at/recht/landesrecht-wien/rechtsvorschriften/html/l4800200.htm)
  
  
  

Archon apollinus [Herbst, 1789] (False Apollo, Osterluzei-Apollo)

Parnassius phoebus [Fabricius, 1793] (Small Apollo, Hochalpen Apollo)

Parnassius mnemosyne [Linnaeus, 1758] (Clouded Apollo, Schwarzer Apollo, Le semi-apollon)

Parnassius apollo Linnaeus 1758

Apollo
Apollo
 L´Apollon
Apolo
Apollofjäril 
Apollo
Apollovlinder
Apollo
Apollo
Niepylak apollo

• Kingdom:    ANIMALIA
• Phylum:    ARTHROPODA
• Class:    INSECTA
• Order:    LEPIDOPTERA
• Suborder:    DITRYSIA
• Superfamily:    PAPILIONOIDAE
• Family:    PAPILIONIDAE
• Subfamily:    PARNASSIINAE
• Tribe:    PARNASSIINI
• Genus:    PARNASSIUS
• Specific name:    APOLLO

To the family tree (Genus: PARNASSIUS)...

PALAEARCTIC (Europe)

 

To the top

Back to family Papilionidae from PALAEARCTIC (EUROPE)