Biology report about the Apollo butterfly. Parnassius (Parnassius). Apollo, autocrator, Avinov, Davydov, Felder, Phoebus, Eversman. Types of butterflies. Red Book. Number limiting factors

Butterfly Apollo: interesting facts and description
Av. Natalia Semenova
Date: June 27, 2014

Butterflies, like flowers, cause sincere admiration for their beauty. Each country has its own ideas about the origin of these amazing creatures. In ancient Greece, they believed that the butterfly and the soul are one and the same. And now in modern Greek they have one name. As for Russia, the word "butterfly" first began to be used here in the 18th century. According to most scientists, it takes its name from the word "baba" - "married woman".

Currently, most species of butterflies are listed in the Red Book. The man is to blame for this, who, with his indefatigable activity, destroys their habitats. This article is about one of the most beautiful endangered butterflies. This is an Apollo butterfly.

origin of name

Why the Apollo butterfly was named after the Greek god of light, the patron of the arts and the leader of the nine muses, now no one will say for sure. We can only build our assumptions on this score. Butterfly is very beautiful. Large, light in color, it is visible from afar. Prefers mountain plains. Maybe she is named after one of the gods because of her beauty and the fact that she likes to live closer to the sun.

Butterfly Apollo: description and lifestyle

In dry scientific terms, Apollo is a diurnal butterfly of the sailfish family (Papilionidae). The full name is the Apollo sailboat (Parnassius apollo). The Apollo butterfly is incredibly beautiful - it has translucent wings of white or cream color, decorated with large rounded spots. On the front wings they are black. The rear ones have red spots with black edging. This is the largest butterfly in European Russia. Its wingspan can reach 9-10 centimeters.

Habitat - open and sun-warmed mountain plains, alpine meadows and slopes of Europe, Ukraine, the Urals, Siberia, the Caucasus, the Tien Shan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The period of appearance is from July to September. Butterfly Apollo prefers large flowers of oregano, ragwort, loves different types of clover. Apollo breeds almost immediately after leaving the pupae. The female lays up to 120 eggs, each separately on a host plant. Adult Apollo caterpillars are also very beautiful. Black in color, like velvet, decorated with two rows of red-orange spots, they look very impressive. The caterpillar feeds on juicy leaves of stonecrop, hare cabbage.

The pupal stage in Apollo lasts 1-3 weeks. Then a new butterfly emerges from it.

Such a different Apollo

The insect is of great interest to naturalists because it has a huge number of species. To date, at least 600 varieties of Apollo are known.

Parnassius mnemosyne clouded Apollo, or mnemosyne is one of the most beautiful species. Snow-white wings, completely transparent at the edges, are decorated only with black spots. This makes the butterfly incredibly elegant. Its second name is black memosyne, since it is painted only in two colors - white and black.

The Arctic Apollo Butterfly (Parnassius arcticus) is another beautiful species. It lives in the mountain tundra on the territory of Yakutia and the Khabarovsk Territory. She was also found in the Magadan region. The wings are white with small black spots. It is interesting that the Gorodkov Corydalis plant is a fodder plant for both butterflies and caterpillars of the Arctic Apollo. The biology of this species is practically not studied due to its extreme rarity.

Butterfly Apollo: interesting facts and details

The beauty of this insect was admired by many famous researchers and biologists, who described it in the most poetic terms. Someone compared the flight of Apollo with the poetry of movement, others called him an elegant inhabitant of the Alps.

In the evening, the butterfly descends and hides in the grass at night. When in danger, it first tries to fly away, but does it very clumsily, because it does not fly well. Realizing that it is impossible to escape by flight, it spreads its wings and begins to rub against them with its paw, making hissing sounds. So she tries to intimidate her enemy. Despite the reputation of a butterfly that does not fly very well, in search of food, an insect can fly up to 5 kilometers in a day. Apollo arctic lives on the border of the territory where the snow never melts. And Parnassius hannyngtoni is the highest mountain butterfly living in the Himalayas, at an altitude of 6000 meters above sea level.

The threat of extinction of the most beautiful butterfly in Russia and Europe

By the middle of the 20th century, Apollo had completely disappeared in the Moscow, Smolensk, and Tambov regions. In almost all countries of its habitat, the butterfly is listed in the Red Book as an endangered species. There are many reasons for the disappearance of Apollo. First of all, this is the destruction of food zones by humans. Another reason is the narrow specialization of butterfly caterpillars. They can only eat stonecrop. In addition, they are very capricious and sensitive to the sun. They only eat when the sun is shining. As soon as he goes behind the clouds - that's it, the caterpillars refuse to eat and descend from the plant to the ground.

The largest butterfly is very noticeable on the mountain slopes. In addition, as already mentioned, the Apollo does not fly well. He does this as if reluctantly, barely flapping his wings and often dropping down to rest. Therefore, it is an easy prey for humans.

Now steps are being taken to restore the Apollo population, but so far they have not brought any significant results. In order for the butterfly to cease to be considered an endangered species, it is necessary to create special feeding zones and certain conditions for its existence.

In dry pine forests, on wastelands and rocky mountain slopes, the common Apollo butterfly from the family of sailboats lives. It is easily recognizable by its light-coloured wings and pattern of black and red spots. Adults are large, wingspan up to 90 mm. Butterflies are active during the day, fly all summer, feeding on nectar-bearing composite plants. The caterpillar feeds on various types of stonecrops. The local residence of Apollo colonies led to a reduction in the number of individuals. The destruction of natural habitats brings the species closer to extinction. The Apollo sailboat is listed in the European Red Book and environmental documents of individual countries.

Morphological description of the species

Butterfly Apollo (Parnassiusapollo) belongs to the genus Parnassius of the sailboat family. The specific name comes from the name of Apollo, the beautiful god from Greek myths, the son of Zeus and the brother of Artemis. The diurnal butterfly with a wingspan of 60-90 mm is the largest species of its kind. The main color of the wings is white, along the outer edge there are small transparent areas.

On the front wings of the male there are 5 rounded black spots, on the hind wings there are red eye spots with a white center. The female is more brightly colored. Young adults that have left the cocoon of the pupa have wings with a yellowish tint. The body of butterflies is covered with thick hairs. The eyes are large, protruding, the antennae are club-shaped. The drawing on the butterfly wings of the Apollo sailboat has about 600 options. Even in the same region, the distribution of spots differs in different colonies.

Information. Despite the fact that Apollos belong to the family of sailboats, they do not have tails on their hind wings.

Habitat

The main habitat of the species is the mountain ranges of the European part of the continent. Parnassiusapollo colonies are found in Norway, France, Sweden, and southern Scandinavia. Butterflies live in Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the Caucasus, the south of the Ural Mountains, and Turkey. Parnassius Apollo is found locally. Insects can be found in light pine forests, near mountain rivers, in valleys on calcareous and sandy soils. In the Alps, the species lives at an altitude of up to 2200 m, in Asia it is noted at 300 m above sea level.

Lifestyle

Butterflies fly well, often hovering over flowers and rocky placers. They adjust their flight path by flapping their powerful wings. They are active at noon, they like well-lit places. Insects feed on the flowers of thistle, ragwort, cornflower, oregano, clover. One generation changes per year. The imago flies in June-August, in some regions the butterflies are active until September. Females prefer to spend time in the grass. Disturbed individuals take off sharply, escaping, moving over considerable distances.

Interesting fact. Red spots on the wings of the common Apollo signal to birds about the poisonous hemolymph of the insect. When attacked, adults fall on their backs, showing a warning pattern. Additionally, they scratch their wings with their paws, making a hissing sound. These actions should scare away the predator.

reproduction

Apollo males begin to search for a partner 2-3 days after emerging from the pupa. They fly at a low altitude above the slopes, looking out for newly born females. After fertilization, the female lays eggs one at a time, placing them on various parts of the forage crop or on the soil next to the plant. Fertility 80-100 pieces. Eggs overwinter, inside of which a caterpillar ready for emergence has formed.

Interesting fact. After fertilization of the female, sphragis is formed on the lower part of her abdomen - a tough appendage of chitin. This is a "filling" that prevents re-fertilization by another male.

Caterpillar

In April-May, a caterpillar appears. At the first instar it is black, with white spots on the body segments and tufts of black hair. Adult caterpillars are velvety black. Two longitudinal stripes of bright red spots run along the body. Each segment has two blue-gray warts. Feeds in sunny weather, hides in dry grass on cloudy days. Forage plants - all types of stonecrop: white, purple, caustic, tenacious. In the Alps, they eat young on the grass.

Information. The caterpillars of the Apollo sailboat have an orange gland in the form of horns, which extends from behind the head in case of danger. This is osmetrium, with its help an unpleasant odor spreads.

The caterpillar pupates on the ground, lying in a light cocoon. The pupa is thick and brown. After a few hours, it becomes covered with a powdery coating. The pupal stage lasts up to two weeks.

related species

Apollo phoebus (Parnassiusphoebus) is a butterfly from the genus Parnassius. In color, it resembles an ordinary Apollo, but the main color of the wings is not white, but cream. The surface of the wings is partially pollinated with black scales. The outer edge of the forewings is transparent. There is a dark band at the base of the hind wings. Males have two red eye spots with black edging on the hindwings, females may have more spots.

The phoebe sailboat has a wingspan of 50-60 mm. For habitat, the species chooses a mountainous area, it is found in the Alps, in the Urals, in the mountains of Kazakhstan, Siberia, the Far East, North America. The butterfly develops in one generation, settles in alpine small-grass meadows, in the tundra. The sailboat climbs into the mountains to a height of 1800-2500 m above sea level.

Females lay their eggs on moss or soil next to the host plant, radiola rosea. Embryos develop before the onset of cold weather, but the offspring do not leave the eggs until spring. Caterpillars grow up to 48 mm, body color is black, yellow spots on the sides. Development takes 25-30 days. They pupate in a thin cocoon. Adults fly from July to August. Apollo Phoebe is gradually declining in numbers. The butterfly was included in the Red Book of the IUCN, the Komi Republic.

Limiting factors

Butterflies are very attached to their habitats. They do not attempt to find comfortable areas for living, moving over considerable distances. A sedentary lifestyle negatively affects the number of insects. The destruction of natural biotopes leads to the death of Apollos. Among the factors worsening living conditions:

• grass and shrub fires;
• trampling meadows and glades by cattle;
• plowing of land;
• overgrowing of wastelands with trees.

One of the reasons for the mass death of insects was global warming. An increase in air temperature in winter leads to premature release of caterpillars from eggs. The larvae that have appeared have nothing to eat, they die of hunger and the following frosts.

Security measures

The species Parnassiusapollo is recognized as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with a continuing trend in the decline in the number of butterflies. It is listed in the IUCN Red List. A decrease in the number of insects is observed in many European countries. The Apollo sailboat was included in the Red Book of Ukraine, Belarus, and Norway. Sweden, Germany. In Russia, the butterfly also received protection at the level of the state and individual regions.

To preserve the common Apollo, it is necessary to expand and preserve the places of long-term residence of butterflies. It is recommended to stop plowing the soil, plant honey plants for adults and stonecrops for caterpillars.

Apollo butterflies are found in the highlands of Europe, Spain, Scandinavia and Asia.

Some individuals live at an altitude of more than 4000. They rarely go below this mark.

The front wing of the Apollo has a size of 34-44 mm. Wingspan 60-85 mm. The wings are painted with red and yellow spots, and the butterfly itself is cream-colored.

Despite the fact that they look very fragile, they can survive in the harshest conditions.

Not everyone manages to see the Apollo, the range has been greatly reduced due to the destruction of their habitats by humans.

For this period of time, butterflies are contenders for complete extinction, the government of some countries are taking measures to protect the population and protect them by law.

Butterfly mating begins from July to August, the female lays a huge number of eggs, more than a hundred. The eggs are pierced in September.

Caterpillars molt more than 5 times during the period of existence. Apollo caterpillar is black with rows of lateral spots. The length of an adult individual reaches 55 mm. The caterpillar feeds on cleanings of various types of plants.

Life span

The life span of an adult butterfly does not exceed seven days.

1. In order to save the Apollo population, scientists are closely monitoring their behavior in order to restore their former habitats.
2. Adult individuals use their trunk, it resembles a suction pipe, in order to feed on the nectar of flowers.

Apollo rightfully belongs to a number of the most beautiful specimens of diurnal butterflies in Europe - bright representatives of the Sailboat family. The insect is of great interest to naturalists because it has a huge number of species.

To date, there are about 600 varieties. Description of the Apollo butterfly: The forewings are white, sometimes cream, in color with transparent edges. The length is up to four centimeters.

The hindwings are adorned with bright red and orange spots with white centers, bordered by a black stripe, as seen in a photo. butterfly apollo has a wingspan of 6.5-9 cm. There are two antennae on the head with special devices that serve to feel various objects.

The eyes are complex: smooth, large, with small tubercles with bristles. The legs are cream-colored, thin and short, covered with small villi. Abdomen with hairs. In addition to the usual, there is butterfly black apollo: medium in size with a wingspan of up to six centimeters.

Mnemosyne is one of the amazing varieties with snow-white wings, completely transparent along the edges, decorated with black spots. This coloring makes the butterfly incredibly aesthetically attractive.

These representatives belong to the order Lepidoptera. They also belong to their relatives from the Sailfish family. On the hind wings of these species there are long processes (dovetail).

In the photo, the Apollo Mnemosyne butterfly

The butterfly lives in mountainous areas on limestone soils, in valleys at an altitude of more than two kilometers from sea level. Most often found in Sicily, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Alps, Mongolia and. Some species of alpine butterflies living in the Himalayas live at an altitude of 6000 above sea level.

An interesting specimen and another beautiful view is Arctic Apollo. Butterfly has a length of the front wings 16-25 mm. It lives in mountain tundra with poor and sparse vegetation, in the Khabarovsk Territory and Yakutia, in an area close to the edges of eternal snows.

Sometimes it migrates locally to larch habitats. As you can see in the photo, the Arctic Apollo has white wings with narrow black spots. Since the species is rare, its biology is practically not studied.

In the photo, the Arctic Apollo butterfly

Character and lifestyle

Biologists, travelers and researchers have always described the beauty of this butterfly species in the most poetic and colorful terms, admiring its ability to gracefully move its wings. Butterfly apollo vulgaris It is active during the day and hides in the grass at night.

At the moment when he feels danger, he tries to fly away and hide, but usually, because he flies badly, he does it clumsily. However, the reputation of a bad flyer does not prevent her from traveling up to five kilometers a day in search of food.

This butterfly is found in the summer months. The insect has an amazing characteristic of defense against its enemies. Bright spots on its wings scare off predators that take the color for poisonous, so the birds do not feed on butterflies.

Frightening enemies with their colors, in addition, the Apollos make creaking sounds with their paws, which further enhance the effect, forcing the enemy to beware of these insects. Today, many beautiful butterflies are threatened with extinction.

In their usual habitats, Apollos are often found, however, due to hunting for them, the number of insects is rapidly decreasing. By the middle of the last century, the butterfly had almost completely disappeared from the Moscow, Tambov and Smolensk regions. Poachers are attracted by the appearance of butterflies and their elegant flowering.

In addition, the number of butterflies is in critical condition due to the destruction of their feeding areas by humans. Another problem is the sensitivity of caterpillars to the sun and selectivity in nutrition.

Especially sharply the number of this species of insects is reduced in the valleys of Europe and Asia. IN Red Book butterfly apollo introduced in many countries, because it is in dire need of protection and protection.

Measures are being taken to restore the declining insect population: special living conditions and feeding areas are being created. Unfortunately, so far the activities have not had tangible results.

Nutrition

The caterpillars of these butterflies are extremely gluttonous. And as soon as they hatch, they immediately begin to feed intensively. But with great willingness they absorb leaves, almost exclusively only, stonecrops and tenacity, doing this with terrible gluttony. And when eating from a plant, all the leaves immediately spread to others.

The mouth apparatus of the caterpillars is of a gnawing type, and the jaws are very powerful. Easily coping with the absorption of leaves, they are looking for new ones. Caterpillars of the Arctic Apollo, born in areas with poor food opportunities, use the Gorodkov Corydalis plant as food.

Adult insects feed, like all butterflies, on the nectar of flowering plants. The process occurs with the help of a spiral proboscis, which, when the butterfly absorbs the nectar of flowers, stretches and unfolds.

Reproduction and lifespan

Apollos breed during the summer months. The female butterfly is capable of laying up to several hundred eggs on the leaves of plants or in bunches. They have a round shape with a radius of a millimeter, smooth in structure. Caterpillars hatch from eggs between April and June. The larvae are black with small orange spots.

Immediately after the larvae are hatched, they break into active food. They need to accumulate a lot of energy for further transformations. Since the female butterflies lay their eggs at the bottom of the plants, the caterpillars immediately find food for themselves. They saturate and grow until they fit in their own shell.

In the photo, the caterpillar of the Apollo butterfly

Then the molting process begins, occurring up to five times. Growing up, the caterpillar, falling to the ground and turns into a chrysalis. This is the resting stage for the insect, in which it maintains complete immobility. And the ugly and fat caterpillar in two months turns into a beautiful butterfly. Her wings dry out and she takes off in search of food.

This process happens over and over again. The life span of Apollos from larva to adult stage lasts two summer seasons. Laid by an adult butterfly, the eggs hibernate, and again, after a series of transformations, they turn into butterflies, striking those around them with their beauty.

Apollo ordinary: the temple is destroyed by the power of the plow, the lord is expelled. Or died.

This time in the section about insects you will learn everything about the beautiful butterfly - Apollo (Parnassius apollo). Looking at her photos, you can easily recognize her in nature. The article is devoted to a detailed description of Apollo, its caterpillar and chrysalis. You will also learn:

• where does this beautiful insect live;
• what time of the year it can be found;
• how and where it winters;
• what flowers and plants Apollo prefers;
• can the butterfly disappear altogether;
• other facts, as well as photographs.

Parnassius Apollo. The symbol of Ancient Greece, a symbol of light, purity, love and beauty, which was once fully embodied in a wonderful creation of nature - a butterfly from the genus of sailboats (or cavaliers). Yes, only “the very best” can be worthy of the son of Zeus.

But Apollo is what it is! The wingspan reaches 10 cm, it is also difficult to argue with the length of its front wing for other daytime beauties: from 40 to 47 mm. So, it is the largest in size.

Description of an adult Apollo butterfly (Parnassius apollo)

The coloring of the species in a nutshell: a mean combination of colors: on white paint (“ground”) - drops of black paint and the color of a mean red brushstroke. But white for our butterfly is always the purest white, and there are five black spots on the front wings (permanently). In whatever highlands Apollo was born, in any valley of the Alps there is a wing pattern (there are over 600 of them).

As for "bloody" spots with a black rim, there can be many of them, and mainly on the lower (hind) wings. From the body of a butterfly to the wings there may be a black “influx” and to varying degrees black “strokes” along the edge of the wings. And antennae, two black maces grow from a black head on the same black body.

Where and at what time can you see the Apollo butterfly

Alpine meadows on calcareous and sandy soils with herbs growing on them - his predilection for choosing "where to live": the Carpathians, the Alps, the Tatras, the Pyrenees. In Asia: Caucasus and Transcaucasia, Mongolia, Turkey, Northern Tien Shan, Eastern Kazakhstan. Although Apollo is more free in the mountains: the fresh air of two-, even three-kilometer-high mountains (and smaller catchers-hunters), the butterfly is also able to settle on the plain.

Butterfly Apollo loves places closer to dry forests and copses of the European part of Russia, in the Caucasus, to areas that are well warmed up in river valleys. Siberian open landscapes with xerophilous plants (resistant to dry air) are also to his liking.

Apollo has a slow flight, very uneven; plans often and often sits on flowers. More active at noon. It is inedible, but in order to save his life from those who need to check it, he falls on his back, scrapes his wings with his feet and makes a sound resembling a hiss, and also scares any attacker with “bloody” spots. If you frighten a female sitting in the grass, she, soaring sharply upwards, is carried away for 100 or more meters.

In the forests of Europe, Apollo prefers spacious, dry, fairly sun-warmed glades with low vegetation (with lichen and cereals). In addition, there should be plants so that the caterpillars have something to feed on: stonecrops, young and tenacious. And the nectar of plants from the Compositae family is suitable for the butterfly itself: ragwort and thistle, cornflower, cornflower, oregano, clover.

Developed in one generation apollo flies june (end), july and august.

Apollo butterfly eggs and description of caterpillars

Here is a female with eggs that have matured in her abdomen, puffing the air with rare flaps of mighty wings, flies, thoughtfully deciding where to lay her eggs so that the caterpillars-children live calmly and satisfyingly. It lays them one by one (whitish and with a hole in the center of the top), attaching to the host plant, and sometimes next to it, but so that the caterpillar will certainly have the opportunity to reach it. Eggs and 80 maybe, and 100 ( record 122, in gardens).

Wintering of masonry occurs in different ways: the eggs themselves can hibernate, or the caterpillars, having already developed in them, can remain in the shells to survive the cold in order to hatch early in the spring. But it is more correct (and also safer) when the eggs hibernate.

Here young caterpillars- future Apollos (black color, on each of the sides - rows of whitish spots are visible (one for each fragment of the body), from the longest black hairs they bunch up in clusters in bad weather.

Growing a little, changing color to velvet black, bearing two stripes of orange-colored spots on each side (of which one is larger, the other is smaller) for each segment of their abdomen and warts, shining steel blue (a pair per segment), behind the head carrying a yellow-reddish osmetrium and standing out with light orange-colored (or yellowish) spiracles, the caterpillars no longer huddle together, but live separately from each other.

Feeding and basking in the warmth of the sun (Apollo's caterpillar is a heliophile), hiding under stones the rest of the time, the larva, just like a butterfly, seems lazy and regally unhurried: why climb to the top to eat, when, having gnawed through a stonecrop a stalk of 20 centimeters, can you take it on the ground? So from April to June life flows slowly, and the caterpillar reaches a length of 50 mm.

Description of the Apollo Butterfly Chrysalis

Pupation occurs in a loose web at the bottom of the stems of the host plant, and sometimes right on the ground and takes a little time. Finally, our larva put on a “case”, round and thick. Brown in color and translucent at first, with rows of yellow spots on the sides, with brown spiracles, the carapace darkens after a day, covered with a blue flour-like coating that becomes opaque and hard. The "space suit" is worn for a short time - for 2 weeks on average, although a period of more weeks is possible.

Apollo in the Red Book of Russia and other countries

In international law (in the Red Book), Apollo is a taxon without perspective: it instantly becomes vulnerable at the slightest change in the environment to which it is accustomed.

And in the "Red Book of European Butterflies (Diurnal)" it is listed as found in Europe, but endangered. Nor are extracts from many Red Books of other powers, such as Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, from post-Soviet ones - Ukraine, Belarus, not comforting.

From the Red Book of the Russian Federation, it is systematically transferred to other books of natural rarities: to the Mordovian, Chuvash, Smolensk regions, Moscow and Tambov. Yes, they have it too. Bye.

Apollo as a species of butterflies may disappear forever

Such is the man: having said “yes”, he will always add “but”: Apollo is beautiful without a doubt. But on earth the master is man, and he will graze on it, mow and reap, plow and sow again and again, as if saying: go away!

But the fact of the matter is that Apollo has nowhere to go (fly away): his subtle nature is capable of living in one place - at home. Conditions will change even by a hair - and the Apollo for the place is lost forever! And that means for the planet as a whole, because in each locality it has its own, unique and beautiful!

Nothing can be done: the Apollo is characterized by stenotopia (binding to a given area) and a weak ability to migrate. He does not want and cannot leave the house! As a result, there is no Apollo in Belarus. For a long time.