Archon apollinus
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False Apollo | ||||||||||||||||
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Photograph of a specimen from Syria
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Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
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Binomial name | ||||||||||||||||
Archon apollinus (Herbst, 1789) |
The False Apollo, Archon apollinus is a species of butterfly belonging to the Parnassinae Subfamily.
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.