Mountain Apollo facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Apollo |
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| Parnassius apollo. Upperside | |
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The Apollo butterfly (Parnassius apollo), also known as the mountain Apollo, is a beautiful butterfly from the Papilionidae family. It is famous for its striking white wings with bright red spots.
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What's in a Name?
The Apollo butterfly gets its name from Apollo, a powerful god in ancient Greek and Roman stories. He was known as the god of light, music, and healing. It's a fitting name for such a bright and noticeable butterfly!
Different Types of Apollo Butterflies
There are many different kinds of Apollo butterflies, called subspecies. These are like different versions of the same butterfly, often found in specific areas. Some examples include:
- Parnassius apollo apollo
- Parnassius apollo hispanicus (found in Central Spain)
- Parnassius apollo nevadensis (found in the Sierra Nevada mountains)
- Parnassius apollo pyrenaica
Where Apollo Butterflies Live
These butterflies typically live in mountains. They love sunny, flowery meadows and pastures high up in the mountains. You can find them in places like the European mountains, including Spain, Scandinavia, and the Alps (between Italy and France). They also live in parts of Central Asia.
Apollo butterflies usually live at high altitudes, from about 400 meters (1,300 feet) up to 2,300 meters (7,500 feet). They are most common above 1,000 meters (3,300 feet). They need cool winters and sunny summers to survive. They also need open areas with lots of grass and specific plants for their caterpillars to eat.
What Apollo Butterflies Look Like
Apollo butterflies are quite large. Males have a wingspan of about 62 to 86 millimeters (2.4 to 3.4 inches), while females are a bit bigger, from 65 to 95 millimeters (2.6 to 3.7 inches).
These butterflies are mostly white with slightly clear edges on their wings. They have five big black spots on their front wings. On their back wings, they have two bright red or sometimes orange spots, which look like eyes. The size and shape of these red spots can change depending on where the butterfly lives. Older butterflies might have faded, more orange spots because of the sun.
Sometimes, you might see darker Apollo butterflies. The caterpillars of this species are black and velvety, with orange-red spots along their sides.
Other similar butterflies include the clouded Apollo (Parnassius mnemosyne), which lives in valleys, and the small Apollo (Parnassius phoebus), found in very high mountains.
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Female Apollo butterfly
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Female, underside
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Male Apollo butterfly
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Male, underside
Why Apollo Butterflies Have Different Colors
Over a very long time, the Apollo butterfly populations became separated, especially during the Ice Age. Large glaciers acted like walls, stopping butterflies from different groups from mixing. Because they were isolated, these groups developed slightly different looks, including variations in their wing colors and sizes.
These separated groups, or "populations," adapted to their local environments. This led to the different color patterns we see today across their range.
How Location Affects Survival
New challenges in the environment can cause some color variations to be better for survival. For example, in places like the Swiss Alps, there's a lot of variation, but also a high number of butterflies disappearing.
One big reason for this is climate change. As the climate gets warmer in mountain areas, the Apollo butterfly, which likes cold, finds it hard to adapt. Another reason is how their food plants are spread out. If the plants they need for food are too far apart, it can be hard for the butterflies to find mates and lay eggs, which puts their populations at risk.
Apollo Butterfly Life Cycle
Apollo butterflies usually have one generation per year. Adult butterflies fly from May to September. They drink nectar from flowers.
[[Multiple image | header = Life cycle of Parnassius apollo | direction = horizontal | align = center | width1 = 180 | image1 = Parnassius apollo.jpeg | caption1 = Mating pair | width2 = 180 | image2 = Parnassius apollo - sphragis 02 (HS).jpg | caption2 = Sphragis on a female | width3 = 180 | image3 = Parnassius apollo larva.jpg | caption3 = Caterpillar | width4 = 280 | image4 = Parnassius apollo caterpillar by Nemos.jpg | caption4 = Caterpillar | width5 = 180 | image5 = Papilionidae - Parnassius apollo-1.JPG | caption5 = Adult butterfly ]]
When mating, the male leaves a special jelly-like plug, called a sphragis, on the female. This stops her from mating with other males. The females then lay eggs, which survive the winter and hatch in the spring.
The Apollo caterpillar is velvety black with small orange spots. These caterpillars eat plants like stonecrop (Sedum species) and houseleek (Sempervivum species). Once the caterpillar is fully grown, it forms a loose cocoon on the ground. Inside, it changes into an adult butterfly.
How Apollo Butterflies Protect Themselves
Apollo butterflies have several ways to protect themselves from predators. When they are young caterpillars, they are completely black, which helps them blend in. But as they grow, they get orange spots, making them more noticeable.
Interestingly, Apollo caterpillars also share a defense with a type of millipede called Glomeris guttata. Both animals have black bodies with orange spots and live in similar places. They both release a bad-smelling liquid to scare away animals that might want to eat them.
Once they become adult butterflies, they have other defenses. Their bright "eyespots" on their wings are a key one. These spots are circles of different colors. Scientists think these spots might:
- Look like the eyes of a predator's enemy to scare them.
- Draw the predator's attention to a less important part of the butterfly's body.
- Simply surprise the predator.
The only downside is that these spots make the butterfly more obvious.
Another defense is their taste. Like the monarch butterfly, the Apollo butterfly tastes bad to predators. They get this bitter taste from the plants they eat, like Sedum stenopetalum. A bitter chemical, sarmentonsin, is found in both the plant and the butterfly, especially in the wings. Some birds, like water pipits, have learned to remove the wings before eating the butterfly's body to avoid the bad taste.
Protecting the Apollo Butterfly
The Apollo butterfly is special to scientists because of its many different subspecies, some found only in one valley. Collectors have always wanted these beautiful butterflies, and collecting them has caused their numbers to drop in some areas.
However, the biggest threat to the Apollo butterfly is changes to its habitat. Things like planting too many conifer trees, land turning into scrubland, farming, and building cities have all reduced the places where Apollo butterflies can live. Climate change and acid rain have also hurt their populations, especially in northern Europe. Cars on roads have also caused many butterfly deaths.
In many countries, laws protect the Apollo butterfly. It's on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, which means it's considered vulnerable. It's also listed in international agreements like CITES and the Habitats Directive. This means it's protected in countries like Liechtenstein, the Czech Republic, Turkey, and Poland.
But these laws often protect individual butterflies, not their homes. So, many projects are working to save this insect by protecting their habitats. For example, in Pieniny National Park, a special program saved a subspecies that had only 20 butterflies left. They did this by breeding them in captivity and protecting their habitat. In Germany, conservationists work with shepherds to make sure sheep grazing doesn't harm the butterflies, for example, by changing when the sheep graze to avoid trampling the caterpillars.
Many Apollo butterfly subspecies are declining, mainly due to habitat destruction, air pollution affecting their food plants, and butterfly collectors. They are also more vulnerable to predators because they spend two years as caterpillars.
