Parnassius eversmanni Ménétriés 1855

The Yellow Apollo, Parnassius eversmanni, is one of the three papilionid species in the Parnassiinae subfamily that are found in North America (the others are P. clodius and P. pheobus). Parnassiinae contains about 50 species, the rest of which live in Eurasia. Like the other North American parnassiines, P. eversmanni inhabits forests in Western North America. It is found in alpine and arctic forests in Northern British Columbia and Alaska, and also in Asia. Unlike the other two North American parnassiine species, the yellow Apollo has yellow males (like other species, females are white). Larvae prefer flowers but also eat leaves of herbaceous Fumariaceae species which contain alkaloids, it is thought that larvae and adults are poisonous to predators. (Scott, 1986).