False Apollo Butterfly

Facts about False Apollos, "Scientific name for is Archon Apollinus", False Apollo is a variety of butterfly that comes from the Papilionidae family. This variety of butterfly is called by its genus name, the Archon. The False Apollo Butterfly are largely found in the Eastern and Central parts of Europe and in the western parts of Asia. The False Apollo are also found in Turkey, Greece, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Similar to other butterfly family, the family of Archon Apollinus shows substantial variation with four or five sub varieties. Older False Apollo of this species habitually lose their scales, particularly on the front wings, and appear extremely transparent.

Features

The False Apollo Butterfly "Archon Apollinus" is a small butterfly in its family, with a body length of 54 mm to 60 mm and with a wingspan ranges from 4.5 cm (1 45/64 inches) to 5.5 cm (2 7/64 inches). The butterfly is prominent for the extremely wide-ranging scale free regions on its forewings, and marmorate in white and black colors. These increases through age and the old butterflies have nearly see-through forewings. On the leading edge of their wing, there are two large black spots. There is a sequence of small black spots at the border. Between the chain of the big black spots and small black spots there are a few small red spots.

The back wings of the False Apollo Butterfly "Archon Apollinus" are white to yellowish in color and they are partly see-through. There is a dark area, covered with hair around the body of the False Apollo Butterfly. There is a series of large black spots going towards the back, with blue color cores and red color eye shadows.

The underside of the False Apollo Butterfly "Archon Apollinus" is white in color and a duplicate of upside, but there are a few variations such that there are no blue color spots. The male False Apollo Butterfly lose a huge amount of scaling than the females. Usually, the females are flushed with wide red color mottling, but this is extremely changeable. The missing of scales on the front wings makes the False Apollo Butterfly trouble-free to differentiate on the wing. During the flight, the butterfly looks indistinct by the obvious back wing and the ghostly front wing.

The adult False Apollo Butterfly "Archon Apollinus" use to spend the majority of their time in warming up in the warm sunlight by settling on grime, low plants or rarely on the rocks. Air temperature is not at all a problem for the False Apollo Butterfly, as far as there is direct sunlight.

Usually, female False Apollo Butterfly are found lower down and male butterflies higher up. This is extremely obvious on the slopes to the east and south of Mt. Olympus, where male False Apollo are found above the olive orchards, and 273 yards (250 meters) over the female butterflies. There is a slight difference between the color of the male and female False Apollo Butterfly such that male butterflies are paler than the females. The male False Apollo are extremely evasive and inflexible to capture, the even more impressive female butterflies sit more.

Diet

False Apollo Butterfly "Archon Apollinus" mostly feed on the nectar of the flowers of the food plants such as Birthwort, and their caterpillars feed on the leaves of the food plant.

False Apollo Butterfly are insects. A False Apollo Butterfly is a herbivore; Meaning that as a caterpillar its first food is its own eggshell and than it will eat the leaves of the plant on which it is hatched. When it becomes a butterfly, it will feed mostly on nectar from flowers, rotting fruit and water with a "proboscis" - a long narrow tube in their mouth that looks like a straw.

Life cycle of a False Apollo Butterfly "Archon Apollinus" comes in four stages, egg, larva "caterpillars", pupa "chrysalis" and adult Butterfly.
A False Apollo Butterfly will attach its eggs to leaves with a special glue.

When caterpillars become fully grown they will attach to an appropriate leaf or small branch, than they will shed the outside layer of their skin and a hard skin underneath known as a "chrysalis" will be their new look
An adult False Apollo Butterfly will come out from the "chrysalis" than it waits a few hours for its wings to dry and fill with blood, before it takes its first flight.

False Apollo Butterfly can see yellow, green, and red. An adult False Apollo Butterfly average life span is from a week to a year
The top flight speed of a False Apollo Butterfly is 12 miles per hour (19 Km/ph) and some moths can fly up to 25 miles per hour (40 Km/ph).
A False Apollo Butterfly "Archon Apollinus" is cold-blooded, which means the body temperature is not regulated on its own. A False Apollo Butterfly can't fly or eat if their body temperature is below 82 degrees fah (28 cel). False Apollo Butterfly are often basking in the sun with their wings open to gain heat and than the veins in the wings carry the heat to the body.
A False Apollo Butterfly has sense organ, on their feet or tarsi, for tasting
The estimate is between 15000 and 20000 different species of butterfly.

A False Apollo Butterfly has a small body, made up of three parts – the head, abdomen and thorax. A False Apollo Butterfly has two large eyes, which are made up of many small parts which are called "compound eyes".
A False Apollo Butterfly has two antenna's on the top of their heads, which they use to smell, hear and feel. A False Apollo Butterfly mouth is a long tube a "proboscis" - a long narrow tube in their mouth that looks like a straw when its done eating, it rolls the tube back up.

A False Apollo Butterfly has three pairs of legs and their feet have little claws that help them stand on flowers. The butterfly's wings are made up of hard tubes that are covered with a thin tissue. The False Apollo Butterfly wings are covered with fine dusty like scales. A False Apollo Butterfly has four brightly colored wings having distinctive patterns made up of tiny scales. The bright patterns scales sometimes have hidden ultraviolet patterns for attracting mates. The bright colors are also used as camouflage to hide them or scare off predictors.