''Parnassius'' is a genus of northern circumpolar and montane (alpine and Himalayan)

butterflies Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

usually known as Apollos or snow Apollos. They can vary in colour and form significantly based on their altitude. They also exhibit altitudinal melananism, a high-altitude adaptation. They have dark bodies and darker coloring at the base of their wings, which allows them to absorb solar energy more quickly. Although classified under the swallowtail butterfly family, none of the ''Parnassius'' species possesses tails. The larvae feed on species of plants belonging to the

Papaveraceae The Papaveraceae, informally known as the poppy family, are an economically important family (biology), family of about 42 genera and approximately 775 known species of flowering plants in the order Ranunculales. The family is cosmopolitan dis ...

and

Crassulaceae The Crassulaceae (, from Latin ''crassus'', thick), also known as the crassulas, the stonecrops or the orpine family, are a diverse Family (biology), family of dicotyledon angiosperms primarily characterized by succulent leaves and a form of phot ...

families, and like the other swallowtail butterfly larvae, possess an osmeterium. Unlike most butterflies that have exposed pupae, they pupate inside a loose silken cocoon.

Identification and ecology

''Parnassius'' species of butterflies are often hard to identify and can sometimes only be identified by dissection of the

genitalia A sex organ, also known as a reproductive organ, is a part of an organism that is involved in sexual reproduction. Sex organs constitute the primary sex characteristics of an organism. Sex organs are responsible for producing and transporting ...

. The phylogeny of the group is still under study using molecular techniques. The exact number of species within the genus is disputed and numbers range from 38 to 47. The ''Parnassius'' butterflies also have a peculiar reproductive strategy in that the male has special accessory glands that produce a

mating plug A mating plug, also known as a copulation plug, vaginal plug, sperm plug, or sphragis (Latin, from , "a seal"), is a gelatinous secretion used in the mating of some species. It is deposited by a male into a female genital tract, such as the vag ...

that seals the female genitalia after mating. This is believed to ensure the success of the male and to prevent other males from mating and avoids sperm competition. Butterflies of this genus have been widely used models to study

metapopulation A metapopulation consists of a group of spatially separated populations of the same species which interact at some level. The term metapopulation was coined by Richard Levins in 1969 to describe a model of population dynamics of insect pests in a ...

population genetics Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and among populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology. Studies in this branch of biology examine such phenomena as Adaptation (biology), adaptation, s ...

and

gene flow In population genetics, gene flow (also known as migration and allele flow) is the transfer of genetic variation, genetic material from one population to another. If the rate of gene flow is high enough, then two populations will have equivalent ...

. Their patchy distribution and restricted migration makes them vulnerable to the effects of

genetic drift Genetic drift, also known as random genetic drift, allelic drift or the Wright effect, is the change in the Allele frequency, frequency of an existing gene variant (allele) in a population due to random chance. Genetic drift may cause gene va ...

and considerable colour variations can exist in individuals from different regions.

Species

Species include: PARNASSIAN EVERSMANN'S (Parnassius eversmanni) (6-25-2016) denali highway, mile p13 pass, near paxson, alaska (5) (28494228324).jpg, '' Parnassius eversmanni'' Papilionidae - Parnassius apollo-1.JPG, '' Parnassius apollo'' Parnassius glacialis (side).JPG, '' Parnassius glacialis'' Parnassius mnemosyne - Dumanlı apollo 03.jpg, '' Parnassius mnemosyne''

Synonymy

Eight

subgenera In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

are recognized within the genus: *''Driopa'' Korshunov, 1988 - type species: ''Papilio mnemosyne'' Linnaeus, 1758 *''Sachaia'' Korshunov, 1988 - type species: ''Parnassius tenedius'' Eversmann, 1851 *''Parnassius'' Latreille, 1804; ''Nouv. Dict. Hist. nat''. 24 (6): 185, 199 - type species: ''Papilio apollo'' Linnaeus *''Tadumia'' Moore

902 __NOTOC__ Year 902 (Roman numerals, CMII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Adalbert II, Margrave of Tuscany, Adalbert II, margrave of March of Tuscany, Tuscany, revol ...

/small>; ''Lepidoptera Indica'', 5 (53): 116 - type species: ''Papilio acco'' Gray *''Kailasius'' Moore,

/small>; ''Lepidoptera Indica'', 5 (53): 118 - type species: ''Parnassius charltonius'' Gray *''Koramius'' Moore,

/small>; ''Lepidoptera Indica'', 5 (53): 120 - type species: ''Parnassius delphius'' Eversmann *''Lingamius'' Bryk, 1935; ''Das Tierreich'' 65: 538-540 - type species: ''Parnassius hardwickii'' Gray *''Eukoramius'' Bryk, 1935; ''Das Tierreich'' 65: 630, 673-674 - type species: ''Parnassius imperator'' Oberthür Other names that are no longer valid include: *''Parnassis'' Hübner, 819/small>; ''Verz. bekannter Schmett''. (6): 90 (or misspelled or emended?) - type species: ''Papilio apollo'' Linnaeus *''Therius'' Billberg, 1820; ''Enum. Ins. Mus. Billb''.: 75 - type species: ''Papilio apollo'' Linnaeus *''Doritis'' Fabricius, 1807; ''Magazin f. Insektenk''. (Illiger) 6: 283 - type species: ''Papilio apollo'' Linnaeus

Evolutionary relationships

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study from 2008 suggests firstly that '' Baronia brevicornis'' Salvin 1893, rather than belonging to an outgroup Baroniinae belongs to Parnassiini, together with ''

Hypermnestra In Greek mythology, Hypermnestra (, ''Hypermnēstra'') was by birth a Libyan princess and by marriage a queen of Argos. She is a daughter of King Danaus, and one of the 50 Danaids. Hypermnestra is most notable for being the only Danaid that be ...

'' and ''Parnassius''. Secondly that the earliest split within the genus ''Parnassius'' is between subgenus ''Parnassius'' (the 'apollo' group, whose caterpillars feed on

, exceptionally

Saxifragaceae Saxifragaceae is a family of Herbaceous plant, herbaceous Perennial plant, perennial flowering plants, within the core eudicot Order (biology), order Saxifragales. The Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of the family has been greatly revised and the ...

) and the ancestor of the remaining seven subgenera. The existence of the subgenera is confirmed by molecular phylogenies. Six of the other subgenera have Fumariaceae as the larval food plant, while the larvae of the remaining genus ''Kreizbergia'' feed on

Scrophulariaceae The Scrophulariaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral (zygomorphic) or rarely radial (actinomorphic) symmetry. The Scr ...

Michel, F.; Rebourg, C.; Cosson, E. & Descimon, H. (2008). "Molecular phylogeny of Parnassiinae butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) based on the sequences of four mitochondrial DNA segments". ''Annales de la Société Entomologique de France''. (n.s.) 44 (1): 1-36.

Important collections

* National Museum of Natural History, Leiden, (Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie) Curt Eisner collection:

Types Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

listed in Eisner, C. ''Parnassiidae-Typen in der Sammlung J.C.Eisner''. Leiden. E.J.Brill, 1966. 190 pp. Col.frontispiece & 84 plts.(Zool. Verh. RMNH, 81). Review of worldwide species of Parnassiidae, 719

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

included. *

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum (Lo ...

: Specimens largely determined by Curt Eisner types listed in Ackery, P. R. (1973): A list of the type-specimens of Parnassius (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) in the British Museum (Natural History). ''Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Entomology'' 29 (1) (9.XI.1973): 1—35, 1 p
pdf
*

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures ...

, Belfast, H.M Peebles collection: Type list available on CD (Nash, R and Eisner, C.) *

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

, Paris: Types listed by Bernardi, G., and Viette, P. 1966. Les types et typoides de Parnassius (s.l.) se trouvant au Museum de Paris. ''Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France'' 71 95-103, 163-166. 9 229-233, 304-309.

Identification and ecology

Species

Synonymy

Evolutionary relationships

Important collections

References

Further reading

External links