''Archon apollinus'', the false Apollo, is a species of

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

belonging to the

Parnassinae The Parnassiinae or snow Apollos are a subfamily of the swallowtail butterfly family, Papilionidae. The subfamily includes about 50 medium-sized, white or yellow species. The snow Apollos are high-altitude butterflies and are distributed across ...

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

. The species is found in Central and Eastern Europe and West Asia. They are found in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

, 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 In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...

and reproductively isolated. Older individuals often lose their scales, especially on the forewings, and appear very transparent. The larvae feed on species of ''

Aristolochia ''Aristolochia'' () is a large plant genus with over 500 species that is the type genus of the family Aristolochiaceae. Its members are commonly known as birthwort, pipevine or Dutchman's pipe and are widespread and occur in the most diverse clima ...

'' including '' A. poecilantha'', '' A. parviflora'', '' A. bodamae'', '' A. hirta'', '' A. bottae'', '' A. auricularia'', '' A. rotunda'', '' A. sempervirens'', '' A. maurorum'' and '' A. billardieri''.

Gallery

Archon apollinus MHNT CUT 2013 3 7 male dos Turquie.jpg, ''A. a. apollinus'', male - Turkey, MHNT Archon apollinus MHNT CUT 2013 3 7 male ventre Turquie.jpg, ''A. a. apollinus'' male, bottom - Turkey, MHNT Archon apollinus MHNT CUT 2013 3 7 female dos Turquie.jpg, ''A. a. apollinus'' female - Turkey, MHNT Archon apollinus MHNT CUT 2013 3 7 female Ventre Turquie.jpg, ''A. a. apollinus'' female, bottom - Turkey, MHNT File:Archon apollinus bellargus - Beautiful false apollo.jpg, ''A. a. bellargus'' -

Adana Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana Province, Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million. Adana lies in the heart ...

, Turkey Archon apollinus turkey ulster.jpg, A ''rubra'' specimen -

Aintab Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approximat ...

, Turkey,

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasure ...

Archon apollinus female beirut ulster.jpg, Female -

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Archon apollinus beirut male ulster.jpg, Male - Beirut Archon apollinus amasina ulster.jpg, Race ''amasina'' -

Amasya Amasya () is a city in northern Turkey and is the capital of Amasya Province, in the Black Sea Region. It was called Amaseia or Amasia in antiquity."Amasya" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th e ...

, Turkey Archon apollinus krystallina ulster.jpg, Race ''krystallina'' -

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Pupa

Footage of false Apollo

Mating and egg depositionMales fighting and egg deposition

References

* Nazari, Vazrick and Carbonell, Frédéric. 2006. ''Archon apollinus'' (Herbst, 1789). Version 7 July 2006 (under construction)

in The Tree of Life Web Project

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1767112 Papilionidae Butterflies of Europe Butterflies described in 1789 Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst