''Parnassius'' is a genus of northern circumpolar and montane (alpine and Himalayan) butterflies usually known as Apollos or snow Apollos. They can vary in colour and form significantly based on their altitude. They also show an adaptation to high altitudes called altitudinal melanism. They show dark bodies and darkened colouration at the wingbase which helps them warm faster using the sun. 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 are an economically important family of about 42 genera and approximately 775 known species of flowering plants in the order Ranunculales, informally known as the poppy family. The family is cosmopolitan, occurring in temperat ...

and

Crassulaceae The Crassulaceae (from Latin ''crassus'', thick), also known as the stonecrop family or the orpine family, are a diverse family of dicotyledon flowering plants characterized by succulent leaves and a unique form of photosynthesis, known as Crass ...

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 (or reproductive organ) is any part of an animal or plant that is involved in sexual reproduction. The reproductive organs together constitute the reproductive system. In animals, the testis in the male, and the ovary in the female, a ...

. 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 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 metapopulations,

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

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

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

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 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/small>; ''Lepidoptera Indica'', 5 (53): 116 - type species: ''Papilio acco'' Gray *''Kailasius'' Moore, 902/small>; ''Lepidoptera Indica'', 5 (53): 118 - type species: ''Parnassius charltonius'' Gray *''Koramius'' Moore, 902/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

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

Hypermnestra Hypermnestra ( grc, Ὑπερμνήστρα, ''Hypermnēstra''), in Greek mythology, was a Libyan princess as one of the 50 Danaids the daughter of King Danaus, son of King Belus of Egypt. Her mother was Elephantis and full sister to Gorgophone ...

'' 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 perennial flowering plants, within the core eudicot order Saxifragales. The taxonomy of the family has been greatly revised and the scope much reduced in the era of molecular phylogenetic analysis. The fa ...

) 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 In computer science and computer programming, a data type (or simply type) is a set of possible values and a set of allo ...

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''; plural 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 nam ...

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 an ...

: 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, treasure ...

, 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, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

, 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