Apollos are in the same family as swallowtails, but lack the tail. In flight they look a bit floppy and you could mistake one for a white butterfly, but actually they can fly quite fast. A characteristic is a translucency to parts of the wings, especially near the tips of the forewings.

There are two species in our area : the Apollo (Parnassius apollo) and the Clouded Apollo (Parnassius mnemosyne). The first of these is the Swiss national butterfly (did you know they had one ?). It is easily identified by the large red rings on the wings, just occasionally replaced by yellow rings. It flies more commonly south of the Rhone, but can also be seen near Solaleil and up to Anzeindaz.

The Clouded Apollo is commoner on the higher slopes this side of the Rhone. It resembles the Black-veined White in flight, but if you see it settled the markings are distinctive. It is smaller than the Apollo and lacks the red.

A third species, the Small Apollo (Parnassius phoebus) is also supposed to fly in Switzerland, but I have never seen one. It looks very like the Apollo, but the antennae are ringed in black and white, instead of the dark grey and light grey of the Apollo.

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