Black Apollo

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Black Apollo
Black Apollo (Parnassius mnemosyne)

Black Apollo ( Parnassius mnemosyne )

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Knight Butterfly (Papilionidae)
Subfamily : Parnassiinae
Genre : Parnassius
Type : Black Apollo
Scientific name
Parnassius mnemosyne
( Linnaeus , 1758)
Female dark alpine form butterfly ( Parnassius mnemosyne ssp.hartmanni )
The wing tips are translucent gray.
Black Apollo caterpillar on larkspur

The black apollo ( Parnassius mnemosyne ) is a butterfly ( butterfly ) from the family of the knight butterfly (Papilionidae). The specific epithet is derived from Mnemosyne , the mother of the muses from Greek mythology .

description

Characteristics of the adults

The moths reach a fore wing span of 50 to 62 millimeters. The wings are white with black veins and two black spots in the cell of the fore wings. The wings are gray translucent at the wing tips. The hind wings are dark towards the inner edge. The female has larger translucent zones on the forewings and gray translucent zones at the apex on the hind wings. In the Alps there are butterflies that are dark in color in both sexes. The females have yellow spots on the abdomen and mated females have a large sphragis made of chitin from the 3rd abdominal segment to the end of the body.

  • ♂

  • ♂ △.

  • ♀

  • ♀ △.

Characteristics of the caterpillars

The caterpillars are up to 42 millimeters long. They have short spines and a line of yellow spots to the left and right. The color of the caterpillar varies from black to brown to black-violet. If the base color is not black, a regular black pattern of spots can be seen in the segments. They look very similar to the caterpillars of the other Apollo butterflies.

Subspecies

The species varies widely and different subspecies are described.

Similar species

distribution

The Black Apollo can be found in Asia from sea level to an altitude of over 3000 meters. In Europe it usually occurs between 1000 and 1700  m . Meadows bordering mixed forests and mountain slopes in deciduous forest zones are ideally suited as biotopes . The species is widespread in Central Europe up to the 65th parallel. It is only missing in England , Denmark and the Iberian Peninsula . The distribution area outside of Europe extends from Lebanon in the south via Turkey and the Caucasus to Central Asia .

Due to the high demands on the biotope, this species is very rare and can only be found like islands. It occurs in the Pyrenees , the Massif Central , Norway , the entire Alpine arc , in some low mountain ranges such as B. Rhön , Swabian Alb , Vogelsberg and Harz , in the Carpathians and the mountains of the Balkans . These places are mostly strictly protected.

Flight and caterpillar time

There is only one generation a year. This flies from mid-April to August, in colder regions only until mid-June. The lifespan of the butterfly is two to three weeks. The caterpillar season is from April to May.

Way of life

Eggs are usually laid on withered leaves or stems of the forage plant, but also on small stones or rocks, if these are close to the forage plant. The rarity of the butterfly also has to do with its complicated biology, since the caterpillar forage plant has already dried up at the time of egg laying and the eggs are laid on suspicion, so to speak. The species overwinters as a fully developed caterpillar in the egg shell. The caterpillar hatches early the next year after the snow melts and likes to sunbathe while sitting on dry leaves. The caterpillar has only four larval stages. After five to six weeks, it pupates in a white, parchment-like cocoon on the ground. The doll it contains is light or dark brown in color and has no white rings like that of the Red Apollo .

The moths are very faithful to their location and need flower-rich meadows nearby as a source of food. The male moths fly around lively in search of not yet mated females. The females can be found visiting flowers in the morning and late afternoon hours. If they are disturbed, they drop deep into the vegetation.

nutrition

The Black Apollo only feeds on certain species of larkspur such as B. from the middle lark spur ( Corydalis intermedia ), hollow lark spur ( Corydalis cava ) and fingered lark spur ( Corydalis solida ).

The moths prefer nectar from red and purple flowers, but also suckle on others.

Reproduction

When mating , the male attaches a large sphragis to the female , which prevents further mating by other males.

Hazard and protection

The species used to be locally abundant, but has declined sharply due to the afforestation of forest edges and forest clearings, partly also due to intensive grazing.

In Germany, the subspecies of the Black Apollo are classified as species of national responsibility within the national strategy for biological diversity of the federal government.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Arnold Spuler: The butterflies of Europe . tape 1 . E. Schweitzerbartsche Verlagbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1908, p. 4 .
  2. ^ A b Lionel G. Higgins, Norman D. Riley: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . 1st edition. Paul Parey, Hamburg / Berlin 1978, ISBN 3-490-01918-0 .
  3. ↑ Hans Foltin, Parnassius mnemosyne L. - Distribution of the Subspec. batavus Fruhst in Upper Austria , journal of the Vienna Entomological Society, 33rd year (PDF; 571 kB)
  4. ↑ Natural history information system [1]
  5. ↑ Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7 .
  6. ↑ a b c Günter Ebert, Erwin Rennwald (ed.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg . 1st edition. tape 1 . Butterflies . 1. General part: systematics, taxonomy and nomenclature, faunistics and ecology, endangerment and protection, data processing; Special part: Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae . Ulmer, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-8001-3451-9 .
  7. ↑ Hannes Fürlinger, Franz Hoffmann, Karl Müllner and Josef Wimmer, CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE OF THE MACROLEPIDOPTERE FAUNA OF THE REICHRAMINGER HINTERGEBIRGES IN UPPER AUSTRIA , Steyrer Entomologenrunde 25, 1991
  8. ↑ www.roteliste.at [2]
  9. ↑ Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany . Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-89624-110-9 .
  10. ↑ Red List Baden-Württemberg, Butterflies online: XLS ( Memento of the original from June 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lubw.baden-wuerttemberg.de
  11. ↑ Red List of Threatened Butterflies in Bavaria ( PDF )
  12. ↑ Red List of Butterflies (Lepidoptera) of the State of Saxony-Anhalt ( PDF )
  13. ↑ Species in particular responsibility of Germany on the homepage of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, accessed on June 3, 2016

literature

  • Kudrna, O. & Seufert, W., 1991. Ecology and protection of Parnassius mnemosyne in the Rhön. - Oedippus 2 : 1-44
  • Hans-Josef Weidemann: Butterfly: observe, determine , Naturbuch-Verlag Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-894-40115-X

Web links

Commons : Black Apollo  album with pictures, videos and audio files