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.: ochotskensis Bryk and Eisner, 1931; range - the Ochot Sea coast.

A female, wings open.

A flowery slope of the coastal terrace at the Burgauli River mouth on the south (Ochot Sea) coast of the Koni Peninsula, Ola District, S Magadan Province, Russia. 17th July, 1989. Oleg Kosterin.