Parnassius imperator

Parnassius imperator
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Papilionidae
Genus: Parnassius
Species: P. imperator
Binomial name
Parnassius imperator
Oberthür, 1883

Parnassius imperator is a high altitude butterfly which is found in Western China and Northeast India. It is a member of the generally white, high-elevation genus Parnassius, known as snow Apollos,[1] of the family Papilionidae, known as Swallowtails (although they lack tails).

It has over 40 subspecies, including the critically endangered Himalayan species P. i. augustus, commonly known as the Imperial Apollo.[2][3] Apollo Augustus, the ”Imperial” Apollo, appeared on Roman coins of the second century CE.[4]

When P. imperator come to rest, their wings spread horizontally so that their bodies lie close to the ground, lessening attacks by strong winds.[5]

Description

Subspecies P. i. augustus Fruhstorfer, 1903, from the 1907 book The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma – Butterflies, Volume II:[6]

“♂ ♀. 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.
Exp. ♂ ♀ 79–84 mm. (3.1–3.35").
Hab. Eastern Himalayas, on the boundary between Sikkim and Tibet, at altitudes between 15,000 and 16,000 feet.
This smaller and darker form of P. imperator, Oberthür, from Eastern Tibet, just enters into our limits.”[6]

Range

“North-eastern India (Sikkim), western China (Xizang Zizhiqu (Tibet), Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan (Szechwan) and Yunnan).”[7]

Status

P. imperator is “not known to be threatened as a species, but P. i. augustus is protected by law in India. It seems to be a common subalpine species in China.”[7] P. i. augustus was also included as a Schedule I subspecies in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.[2] P. i. augustus was listed as "Critically Endangered" in the 1994 The Red Data Book on Indian Animals: Butterflies of India.[3] P. imperator has been said to command a high price at European butterfly auctions in the past.[8]

Subspecies

There were twenty subspecies in 1985,[7] and more than twice that now included in the Global Names Index:[9][10]

Cited references

  1. ↑ Verghese, B. G. (1962). Himalayan endeavour. Times of India. p. 140.
  2. 1 2 The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. Georg Thieme Verlag. p. 72.
  3. 1 2 Gupta, I. J.; Mondal, D. K.; Zoological Survey of India (1994). The Red Data Book on Indian Animals: Butterflies of India. Zoological Survey of India. p. 54. ISBN 978-81-8171-070-3.
  4. ↑ Graf, Fritz (16 October 2008). Apollo. Routledge. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-203-58171-1.
  5. ↑ Flora, fauna, and ecology of the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau. Science Press, Gordon & Breach Publishing Group. 1 January 1981. p. 1092. ISBN 978-0-677-60220-2.
  6. 1 2 Bingham, Charles Thomas (1907). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma 2. London: Taylor & Francis. pp. 127–128.
  7. 1 2 3 Collins, N. Mark; Morris, Michael G. (1 January 1985). Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World: The IUCN Red Data Book. International Union for Conservation of Nature. p. 37. ISBN 978-2-88032-603-6.
  8. ↑ Parenti, Umberto (1972). Butterflies and moths: a kaleidoscope of living colour; [adapted from the Italian of Umberto Parenti]. Orbis Publishing Ltd. p. 29.
  9. ↑ "Global Names Index". Global Names Index Beta. Global Biodiversity Information Facility and Enclopedia of Life. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  10. ↑ "Taxonomy browser (Parnassius imperator)". NCBI Taxonomy Database. NCBI. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
  11. ↑ Häuser, Christoph L; Nekrutenko, Yuri P; (1998). "Comments on "Nomina Lepidopterorum nova" by S. K. Korb (Papilionidae, Nymphalidae)". Nota Lepidopterologica 21 (1): 74–84. ISSN 0342-7536.

Further reading

Parnassius imperator Sv Parnassius imperator provides further references and synonymy

See also

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