- Parnassius imperator
Taxobox
name = Imperial Apollo
image_description = Photograph oflectotype from Ulster Museum
regnum =Animal ia
phylum =Arthropod a
classis =Insect a
ordo =Lepidoptera
familia =Papilionidae
genus = "Parnassius "
species = "P. imperator"
binomial = "Parnassius imperator"
binomial_authority =Oberthür ,1883 Imperial Apollo "Parnassius imperator" is a high altitude butterfly which is found in India. It is a member of the Snow Apollo genus "
Parnassius " of the Swallowtail (Papilionidae) family.Description
Race "augustus", Fruhstorfer. Male upperside creamy-white. Fore wing: costa and base closely irrorated with black scales; the usual short transverse medial and apical black bars across the cell, followed by irregularly sinuous, broad, transverse, dusky-black discal and postdiscal, complete bands that extend from the costa to the dorsum; the discal band very broad, below the apex of cell bent inwards and almost completely filling the base of interspaces 2 and 3; the terminal margin broadly dusky hyaline black. Hind wing: the dorsal margin up to the subcostal vein and downwards to a little above the tornus densely irrorated with black scales and with scattered long white hairs; an upper basal black-encircled crimson spot; another in the middle of interspace 7 and a third in interspace 5, the latter two centred with white ; beyond there is an irregular, sinuous, postdiscal dusky-black transverse band from costa to vein 4, posterior to which in interspaces 2 and 3 are two prominent round black subtornal spots, broadly centred with blue; lastly, the terminal margin narrowly dusky black. Cilia of both fore and hind wings prominently yellowish white- Underside similar; glassy markings similar, but mostly seen by transparency from above: faint indications of an additional crimson spot at base of cell and base of interspace 1. Antenna brownish black, obscurely annulated with brown ; head, thorax and abdomen black, the latter two studded with long white hairs.Bingham, C. T. 1907. Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 2]
Range
Tibet, China. Previously known from Northern-eastern part of India (Sikkim), which currently is occupied by China.
tatus
Common sub-alpine species in China. Not known to be threatened as a species. The subspecies "P. i. augustus" is protected by law in India. [Collins, N.M., Morris, M.G. (1985) "Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World". IUCN. ISBN 2-88032-603-6]
Cited references
Other references
* Evans, W.H., (1932) "The Identification of Indian Butterflies" (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India
* Wynter-Blyth, M.A., (1957) "Butterflies of the Indian Region", Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.
* Sakai S., Inaoka S., Toshiaki A., Yamaguchi S., Watanabe Y., (2002) "The Parnassiology. The Parnassius Butterflies, A Study in Evolution", Kodansha, Japan. ISBN 4-06-124051-X
* Weiss Jean-Claude, (1999) "Parnassiinae of the World", Hillside Books, Canterbury, UK. ISBN 0-9532240-2-3, OCLC|41072974ee also
*
Papilionidae
*List of butterflies of India
*List of Butterflies of India (Papilionidae) External links
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