All Topics  
Parnassius

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Parnassius
 
 
  Topics Parnassius Topic Home

Parnassius is a genus of northern circumpolar and montane (alpine and Himalayan) butterflies
Butterfly

A butterfly is an insect of the Order Lepidoptera. Like all Lepidoptera, butterflies are notable for their unusual Biological life cycle with a larval caterpillar stage, an inactive pupal stage, and a spectacular metamorphosis into a familiar and colourful winged adult form....
 usually known as Apollos. They can vary in colour and form significantly based on their altitude. They also show an adaptation to high altitudes called altitudinal melanism. They show dark bodies and darkened colouration at the wingbase which helps them warm faster using the sun.

Although classified under the Swallowtail
Swallowtail

Swallowtail may refer to:* Dress coat, a formal tailcoat worn traditionally as part of white tie.* Swallowtail butterfly, large colorful butterflies from the family Papilionidae....
 butterfly family, none of the Parnassius species possess tails.

The larvae feed on species of plants belonging to the Papaveraceae
Papaveraceae

Papaveraceae is a family of flowering plants. The family has been universally recognized by taxonomists, and is also known as the "poppy family"....
 and Crassulaceae
Crassulaceae

The Crassulaceae, or orpine family, is a family of dicotyledons. They store water in their succulent leaves. They are found worldwide, but mostly occur in the Northern Hemisphere and southern Africa, typically in dry and/or cold areas where water may be scarce....
 families, and like the other swallowtail butterfly larvae, possess an osmeterium
Osmeterium

The osmeterium is a fleshy organ found in the prothoracic segment of larvae of Swallowtail butterfly including Birdwing. This organ emits smelly compounds believed to be pheromones....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Parnassius'
Start a new discussion about 'Parnassius'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Parnassius is a genus of northern circumpolar and montane (alpine and Himalayan) butterflies
Butterfly

A butterfly is an insect of the Order Lepidoptera. Like all Lepidoptera, butterflies are notable for their unusual Biological life cycle with a larval caterpillar stage, an inactive pupal stage, and a spectacular metamorphosis into a familiar and colourful winged adult form....
 usually known as Apollos. They can vary in colour and form significantly based on their altitude. They also show an adaptation to high altitudes called altitudinal melanism. They show dark bodies and darkened colouration at the wingbase which helps them warm faster using the sun.

Although classified under the Swallowtail
Swallowtail

Swallowtail may refer to:* Dress coat, a formal tailcoat worn traditionally as part of white tie.* Swallowtail butterfly, large colorful butterflies from the family Papilionidae....
 butterfly family, none of the Parnassius species possess tails.

The larvae feed on species of plants belonging to the Papaveraceae
Papaveraceae

Papaveraceae is a family of flowering plants. The family has been universally recognized by taxonomists, and is also known as the "poppy family"....
 and Crassulaceae
Crassulaceae

The Crassulaceae, or orpine family, is a family of dicotyledons. They store water in their succulent leaves. They are found worldwide, but mostly occur in the Northern Hemisphere and southern Africa, typically in dry and/or cold areas where water may be scarce....
 families, and like the other swallowtail butterfly larvae, possess an osmeterium
Osmeterium

The osmeterium is a fleshy organ found in the prothoracic segment of larvae of Swallowtail butterfly including Birdwing. This organ emits smelly compounds believed to be pheromones....
. Unlike most butterflies that have exposed pupae, they pupate inside a loose silken cocoon.

Identification and ecology


A proposed phylogeny of the Parnassius and related groups. The Parnassius species of butterflies are often hard to identify and can sometimes only be identified by dissection of the genitalia. The phylogeny of the group is still under study using molecular techniques. The exact number of species within the genus is disputed and numbers range from 38 to 47.

The Parnassius butterflies also have a peculiar reproductive strategy in that the male has special accessory glands that produce a mating plug or sphragis that seals the female genitalia after mating. This is believed to ensure the success of the male and to prevent other males from mating and avoids sperm competition.

Butterflies of this genus have been widely used models to study metapopulation
Metapopulation

A metapopulation consists of a group of spatially separated populations of the same species which interact at some level. The term metapopulation was coined by Richard Levins in 1969 to describe a model of population dynamics of insect pests in agricultural fields, but the idea has been most broadly applied to species in naturally or artifici...
s, population genetics
Population genetics

Population genetics is the study of the allele frequency distribution and change under the influence of the four evolutionary processes: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene flow....
 and gene flow
Gene flow

In population genetics, gene flow is the transfer of alleles of genes from one population to another.Migration into or out of a population may be responsible for a marked change in allele frequencies ....
. Their patchy distribution and restricted migration makes them vulnerable to the effects of genetic drift
Genetic drift

Genetic drift or allelic drift is the change in the relative frequency with which a gene variant occurs in a population that results from the fact that alleles in offspring are a Sampling of those in the parents, and because of the role of chance in determining whether a given individual survives and reproduces....
 and considerable colour variations can exist in individuals from different regions.

Synonymy


Eight subgenera are recognized within the genus.
  • Driopa Korshunov, 1988. Type species: Papilio mnemosyne Linnaeus, 1758.
  • Sachaia Korshunov, 1988. Type species: Parnassius tenedius Eversmann, 1851.
  • Parnassius Latreille, 1804; Nouv. Dict. Hist. nat. 24 (6): 185, 199, Type Species: Papilio apollo Linnaeus.
  • Tadumia Moore, [1902]; Lepidoptera Indica, 5 (53): 116, Type Species: Papilio acco Gray
  • Kailasius Moore, [1902]; Lepidoptera Indica, 5 (53): 118, Type Species: Parnassius charltonius Gray
  • Koramius Moore, [1902]; Lepidoptera Indica, 5 (53): 120, Type Species: Parnassius delphius Eversmann
  • Lingamius Bryk, 1935; Das Tierreich 65: 538-540, Type Species: Parnassius hardwickii Gray
  • Eukoramius Bryk, 1935; Das Tierreich 65: 630, 673-674, Type Species: Parnassius imperator Oberthür
Other names that are no longer valid include
  • Parnassis Hübner, [1819]; Verz. bekannter Schmett. (6): 90 (or missp. or emend.?), Type Species: Papilio apollo Linnaeus
  • Therius Billberg, 1820; Enum. Ins. Mus. Billb.: 75, Type Species: Papilio apollo Linnaeus
  • Doritis Fabricius, 1807; Magazin f. Insektenk. (Illiger) 6: 283, Type Species: Papilio apollo Linnaeus


Important Collections


  • National Museum of Natural History Leiden
    Naturalis

    The National Natural History Museum, or Naturalis, is the national natural history museum for the Netherlands, based in Leiden. It originated from the merger of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie and the Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie in 1984....
    , (Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie) Curt Eisner
    Curt Eisner

    Curt Eisner was a Germany entomologist who specialised in snow butterflies or Parnassinae. His collections of Parnassinae are in Ses Naturalis, in Leiden, and his Ornithoptera and Morphinae are in the Museum f?r Naturkunde in Berlin....
     collection. Types listed in Eisner, C.     Parnassiidae-Typen in der Sammlung J.C.Eisner. Leiden. E.J.Brill, 1966. 190 pp. Col.frontispiece & 84 plts.(Zool.Verh. RMNH, 81). Review of worldwide species of Parnassiidae, 719 taxa
    Taxon

    A taxon or taxonomic unit is a name designating an organism or a group of organisms. In biological nomenclature according to Carl Linnaeus, a taxon is assigned a taxonomic rank and can be placed at a particular level in a systematic hierarchy reflecting evolutionary relationships....
     included.


  • Natural History Museum
    Natural History Museum

    The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
     Specimens largely determined by Curt Eisner Types listed in 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.


  • Ulster Museum
    Ulster Museum

    The Ulster Museum is located in the Belfast Botanic Gardens in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and has around 8,000 square metres of public display space, featuring material from the collections of Fine Art and Applied Art, Archaeology, Ethnography, Treasures from the Spanish Armada in Ireland, Local History, Numismatics, Industrial Archaeolo...
     Belfast. H.M Peebles collection Type list available on CD (Nash, R and Eisner, C.)


  • Muséum national d'histoire naturelle
    Muséum national d'histoire naturelle

    The Mus?um national d'Histoire naturelle is the France national museum of natural history....
     , Paris.Types listed by Bernardi, G., and Viette, P.
    Pierre Viette

    Pierre Viette is a France entomologist. He attended university in Dijon during the German occupation of France in World War II and subsequently spent his entire career at the Mus?um national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris....
     1966. Les types et typoides de Parnassius (s.l.) se trouvant au Museum de Paris.     Bull.Soc. ent. Fr. 71 95-103, 163-166. 9 229-233, 304-309.

Gallery


External links

  • ]
  • Genetic (DNA) vouchers