On so-called ‘Crimean’ Parnassius apollo breitfussi Bryk, 1914 (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)

Abstract

Parnassius apollo (Linnaeus, 1758), known from the Crimea by only few historical specimens, declared here as a species erroneously placed into the Crimean fauna. This erroneous placement was based on mislabelled specimens. We prove that Parnassius apollo breitfussi Bryk, 1914, is a junior subjective synonym of P. apollo suevicus Pagenstecher, 1909, which material in fact was mislabelled over a century ago. We also show that the label ‘Djankoi’ under male holotype of P. apollo breitfussi appeared after 1966 but not when the subspecies was described.