''Parnassius behrii'', the Sierra Nevada parnassian, 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 ...

in the 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 ...

. It is native to the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, US, where it is found in habitats such as rock slides,

alpine tundra Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated alpine climate, harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alp ...

, and stream edges. Adults use members of the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

as nectar plants, and both adults and larvae use ''

Sedum ''Sedum'' is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Crassulaceae, members of which are commonly known as stonecrops. The genus has been described as containing up to 600 species, subsequently reduced to 400–500. They are leaf succulen ...

'' species as nectar and host plants. ''P. behrii'' has one flight from mid-July to early September. The wingspan measures . The dorsal forewing has two black spots and one to three yellow-orange spots along the costa. The hindwing has two yellow-orange spots. The abdomen has pale yellow hairs. Males fly close to the ground when searching for females. The eggs are laid singly on many surfaces. The

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

s feed on the leaves of the host plant and will sometimes consume the flowers and seeds. ''P. behrii'' hibernates as an egg.

Description

A rather large form, in which the male usually has somewhat longer wings, the submarginal band is marked anteriorly by sharp black luniform spots, which become obsolete posteriorly, the anterior ones of the costal spots usually centred with red, the glossy border is confined to the anterior half, narrowed and so restricted by the white marginal spots that it only remains as a row of blackish wedge-shaped spots; ocelli of the hindwing small. The red yellow colouring of the ocelli and the development of small submarginal spots on the hindwing are given as special characteristics, but these features are not constant. The females as a rule have the costal spots on the forewing strongly filled in with red, a strongly marked submarginal band, the disc more or less dusted with black, on the hindwing the submarginal lunules are confluent as a sort of band and there are grey spots at the margin itself. The aspect on the whole like '' sayii'' female or a lighter ''hermodur'' 'sayii'' var.-female. California (Sierra Nevada), Utah. Stichel in Seitz, 1907 (Parnassius). ''Die Groß-Schmetterlinge der Erde''. Band 5: Abt. 2, ''Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die Großschmetterlinge des amerikanischen Faunengebietes'' Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart

Etymology

*The species name honours

Hans Hermann Behr Hans Hermann Behr (August 18, 1818, Köthen (Anhalt), Köthen – March 6, 1904, San Francisco) was a German Americans, German-American Physician, doctor, entomologist and botanist. At the time of his death, the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' r ...

References

External links

Funet
images including

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 ...

''P. behrii'' images
at

Consortium for the Barcode of Life The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) was an international initiative dedicated to supporting the development of DNA barcoding as a global standard for species identification. CBOL's Secretariat Office is hosted by the National Museum of ...

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2363729 behrii Butterflies described in 1870