Archon apollinus

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False Apollo
Photograph of a specimen from Syria
Photograph of a specimen from Syria
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Papilionidae
Subfamily: Parnassiinae
Genus: Archon
Species: A. apollinus
Binomial name
Archon apollinus
(Herbst, 1789)

The False Apollo, Archon apollinus is a species of butterfly belonging to the Parnassinae Subfamily.

A rubra specimen from Aintab, Turkey from the Ulster Museum
A rubra specimen from Aintab, Turkey from the Ulster Museum

The species is found in Central and Eastern Europe and West Asia. They are found in Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon, and like others of the family show considerable variation with four or five subspecies. A morphologically similar species Archon apollinaris has been recently separated and has been found to by sympatric and reproductively isolated.

Older individuals often lose their scales, especially on the forewings, and appear very transparent.

The larvae feed on species of Aristolochia including A. poecilantha, A. parviflora, A. bodamae, A. hirta, A. bottae, A. auricularia, A. rotunda, A. sempervirens, A. maurorum and A. billardieri.

[edit] References

  • Nazari, Vazrick and Carbonell, Frédéric. 2006. Archon apollinus (Herbst, 1789). Version 07 July 2006 (under construction). [1] in The Tree of Life Web Project, [2]