Parnassius nordmanni

Parnassius nordmanni
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Papilionidae
Genus:	Parnassius
Species:	P. nordmanni
Binomial name
	Parnassius nordmanni; Ménétries, in Simashko 1850

Parnassius nordmanni is a high altitude butterfly which is found the Caucasus. It is a member of the snow Apollo genus (Parnassius) of the swallowtail family, Papilionidae. The larva feeds on Corydalis species including C. alpestris, C. conorhiza and C. emanueli.

Description

Similar to Parnassius ariadne but the forewing without submarginal macular band, the vitreous margin is considerably widened, there being often a blackish spot before the hindmargin; ocelli of hindwing reddish yellow, distal margin glossy grey. The female strongly marked, partly powdered with blackish scaling; costal spot of forewing enlarged to an abbreviated band; the ocelli of the hindwing sometimes connected by a black line. Underside without basal spots. In ab. trimaculata Schaposchn. the anal spot bears sometimes a distinct red pupil, being ocellus-like.^[1]

Subspecies

The taxa described within this species are most probably only infrasubspeciflc varieties.

Parnassius nordmanni bogosi (Bang-Haas, 1934)
Parnassius nordmanni christophi (Bryk & Eisner, 1932)
Parnassius nordmanni pataraeus (Westwood, 1852)
Parnassius nordmanni thomai (de Freina, 1980)
Parnassius nordmanni trimaculata (Schaposchnikow, 1904)

Type locality

The type locality is “Monti / Adschara” (by lectotype designation).

References

^ Stichel in Seitz, 1906 (Parnassius). Die Groß-Schmetterlinge der Erde. Die Groß-Schmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes. Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, Stuttgart.