''Parnassius arcticus'', the Siberian Apollo, is a high-altitude butterfly which is found in Northeastern

Yakutia Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far Eas ...

, Russia. It is a member of the snow Apollo genus (''

Parnassius ''Parnassius'' is a genus of northern circumpolar and montane (alpine and Himalayan) butterflies usually known as Apollos or snow Apollos. They can vary in colour and form significantly based on their altitude. They also show an adaptation to h ...

'') of the swallowtail family,

Papilionidae Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the larges ...

. The taxonomic status of this butterfly is uncertain. It was originally described from females only as a Siberian

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of ''

Parnassius simo ''Parnassius simo'', the black-edged Apollo, is a high-altitude butterfly found in the Himalayas which belongs to the Papilionidae (swallowtail) family. Description Male upperside: dull white, the veins black. Forewing at base and along the cost ...

'', a species which does not occur in Siberia. Eisner, the author of the subspecies later decided it was conspecific with ''

Parnassius tenedius ''Parnassius tenedius'', the tenedius Apollo, is an east Palearctic member of the snow Apollo genus (''Parnassius'') of the swallowtail family (Papilionidae). Populations range from Siberia and the Far East of Russia to the western Chukchi Penins ...

''. Korshunov & Gorbunov (1995) regard it as a good (full) species with ''ammosovi'' Korshunov as a

junior synonym The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linna ...

. ''P. ammasovi'' lives on

scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically ha ...

at 1,500 m. The adult flies mid-June to early July. Eggs are laid on stones around the host plant, ''

Corydalis ''Corydalis'' (from Greek ''korydalís'' "crested lark") is a genus of about 470 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants in the family Papaveraceae, native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere and the high mountains of tropical eastern ...

gorodkovi''.

External links

Parnassius of the World
Photos of male and female ''ammasovi'' identified by Professor Andrew V. Timshenko.-->

Holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

and

paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype nor a syntype). Of ...

of ''ammosovi'' (sic)
''Parnassius arcticus'' on Rusinsects
(text and photographs). arcticus Butterflies described in 1968 {{Papilionidae-stub