Parnassius phoebus (Fabricius, 1793) - Small Apollo.

The Parnassius butterflies become little mobile when the sun hides behind the clouds and fail to get into the air when frightened. Instead, they exhibit a peculiar threatening behaviour: they spread the wings wide, showing striking red "eyes" (demonstrative colouration) and start to make convulsive movement of wings and a scratching sound by rubbing the hind legs against the under surface of the wings.

Range: the Alps, the Urals, the mountains of South, Central and East Siberia, the Far East., Mongolia, N China and the western North America.

ssp: phoebus (Fabricius, 1798) - the Altai and adjacent Mts.

A female, wings open.

Russia, Siberia, Khakass Republic, Ust'-Abakan District, 60 km WWS v. of Ust'-Byur, Terensug River valley 5 km upstream of Assug River mouth, 53o38' N 89o33' E, alt. 700-800 m, meadowy and stony southern slopes within spruce taiga. 5th July 2000. O. Kosterin