Parnassius acco

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Varnished Apollo

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
(unranked) Rhopalocera
Superfamily: Papilionoidea
Family: Papilionidae
Genus: Parnassius
Species: P. acco
Binomial name
Parnassius acco
Gray, 1853

Varnished Apollo Parnassius acco is a high altitude butterfly which is found in Asia. It is a member of the Snow Apollo genus Parnassius of the Swallowtail (Papilionidae) family.

Contents

[edit] Description

Upperside: dull greyish white. Fore wing: costal margin and base with an irroration of black scales, the white scaling clearest and most dense in the cell, this last crossed by a medial and an apical short, broad, transverse jet-black band; beyond apex of cell an irregularly sinuous dusky-black discal band that, usually extends from costa to vein 3, but in some specimens right up to the dorsal margin, in most it bears an anterior crimson spot; this is followed by less irregular and, in most specimens, slightly broader postdiscal and terminal similar transverse bands and a pre-ciliary slender continuous line on termen and dorsum. Hind wing: dorsal half of the wing dusky black, the outer or upper margin of this colour, irregularly indented; a discal, a subcostal and a basal black-encircled spot that varies in colour from crimson to pinkish yellow, followed by a subterminal series of black lunular spots and a narrow terminal band, crossed and interrupted by the white veining. Cilia of both wings conspicuously white. Underside with a glassy appearance. Forewing nearly as on the upperside, but the black markings, except the two bars across the cell, only seen through by transparency from the upperside. Hind wing : ground-colour white, the discal, costal, and basal pink or crimson spots also apparently transparency only from the upperside; a discal double ill-defined series of black lunular markings, followed by a subterminal series of similar markings like those on the upperside, but of a duller black and less clearly defined. Antennae dull brownish black, with a more or less copious covering of scattered white scales; abdomen black, clothed with somewhat sparse, long, fine white hairs.[1]

[edit] Range

Pakistan, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and further East to Sikkim, Nepal and China.

[edit] Status

Parnassius acco gemmifer
Parnassius acco gemmifer

Very rare. Inadequately known. More information is needed from the Indian highlands and Tibet. The subspecies P. a. geminifer is protected by law in India.[2]

[edit] Cited references

  1. ^ Bingham, C. T. 1907. Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 2
  2. ^ Collins, N.M., Morris, M.G. (1985) Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World. IUCN. ISBN 2-88032-603-6

[edit] Other references

  • Evans, W.H., (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India
  • Haribal, Meena., (1992) The Butterflies of Sikkim Himalaya.Sikkim Nature Conservation Foundation, Gangtok
  • Sakai S., Inaoka S., Toshiaki A., Yamaguchi S., Watanabe Y., (2002) The Parnassiology. The Parnassius Butterflies, A Study in Evolution, Kodansha, Japan. ISBN 4-06-124051-X
  • Weiss, J.-C., (1992) Parnassiinae of the World - Part 2, Venette: Sciences Nat, France. ISBN 0953224023

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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