Archon apollinus

Archon apollinus, the false Apollo, is a species of butterfly belonging to the Parnassinae subfamily.

False Apollo

Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Papilionidae
Genus:
Archon
Species:
A. apollinus
Binomial name
Archon apollinus
(Herbst, 1789)

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 be 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.

  • A. a. apollinus, male - Turkey, MHNT
  • A. a. apollinus male, bottom - Turkey, MHNT
  • A. a. apollinus female - Turkey, MHNT
  • A. a. apollinus female, bottom - Turkey, MHNT
  • A. a. bellargus - Adana, Turkey

Pupa
pupas of Archon apollinus

Footage of false Apollo

References
  1. Dixon, M. 1996. Archon apollinus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 1996: e.T171925A6809917. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.1996.RLTS.T171925A6809917.en. Downloaded on 12 April 2020.
  • Nazari, Vazrick and Carbonell, Frédéric. 2006. Archon apollinus (Herbst, 1789). Version 7 July 2006 (under construction). in The Tree of Life Web Project,
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