Parnassius glacialis

Glacial Apollo
Paratype of Parnassius glacialis shikokuensis from Isizuchi, Shikoku
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Papilionidae
Genus: Parnassius
Species: P. glacialis
Binomial name
Parnassius glacialis
Butler, 1866
in Mount Ryōzen, Japan

The glacial Apollo or Japanese clouded Apollo, Parnassius glacialis, is a high altitude butterfly found in Japan, E. China and Korea. It is a member of the snow Apollo genus Parnassius of the swallowtail family, Papilionidae[1]

Description

Much larger than [ Parnassius stubbendorfi Men. of which it was once considered a subspecies]. The blackish grey central spot of the cell is sometimes connected with the apical cell-spot by fuscous dusting along the sides of the cell, and the submarginal band of the forewing is more or less distinct and complete. Abdominal,area of hindwing deep black as far as the cell, clothed with white hairs; on and along the veins blackish dusting. Collar, coxae and abdomen laterally clothed with yellow or reddish yellow hairs. Underside of wings slightly yellow. In some Japanese specimens (from Hakodate) the cell-spots and the submarginal band of the forewing have entirely disappeared, or are only very feebly indicated. [2]

Classification

There are fifteen subspecies. P. glacialis has been treated as a subspecies of Parnassius stubbendorfi but this is disproved by Takashi et al. 2001 who show that the subspecies of glacialis from Korea and Japan may be one species while those from mainland China another.

For a list of subspecies types in the British Museum (Natural History). see Ackery, P. R. (1973) A list of the type-specimens of Parnassius (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) in the British Museum (Natural History). Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Ent.) 29 (1) (9.XI.1973): 1—35, 1 pl. online here

Range

E. China, Korea, Japan.

Status

Quite common but threatened by urbanisation in some areas.

Identification

The Parnassius species of butterflies are often hard to identify and can sometimes only be identified by dissection of the genitalia.Ackery P.R. (1975) provides a key available online[3]

Cited references

  1. D'Abrera, Bernard, 1990 Butterflies of the Holarctic Region: Papilionidae, Pieridae, Danaidae and Satyridae (Partim) (Butterflies of the World) Hill House Publishers ISBN 0646012029
  2. Stichel in Seitz, 1906 (Parnassius). Die Groß-Schmetterlinge der Erde. Die Groß-Schmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes. Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, Stuttgart.
  3. Ackery PR (1975) A guide to the genera and species of Parnassiinae (Lepidoptera:Papilionidae). Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Ent.) 31, 4 pdf

Other references

Further reading

Parnassius glacialis Sv Parnassius glacialis provides further references and synonymy

See also

External links

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