| Family | Papilionidae |
|---|---|
| Subfamily | Parnassiinae |
| Genus | Parnassius |
| Species | phoebus |
| Authority | (Fabricius, 1793) |
| English Name | Small Apollo |
| European Red List 2010 | Near Threatened (NT) |
|---|---|
| EU 27 Red List 2010 | Near Threatened (NT) |
| European Red List 2025 | Least Concern (LC) |
| EU 27 Red List 2025 | Least Concern (LC) |
| Habitats Directive | |
| Bern Convention | |
| CITES |
The Small Apollo occurs in the mountains, especially in damp places, such as beside streams and where it gets flooded from time to time. Such spots are the habitat of the larval food plant Yellow Mountain Saxifrage (Saxifraga aizoides). However, in the Mercantour in the south-west of the Alps, the foodplant is Roseroot (Rhodiola roseum). Although the eggs are sometimes laid on the foodplant, they are also often laid not far from it. The very small caterpillar sometimes passes the winter in the egg, sometimes outside it. The fully-grown caterpillars are black with a row of orange-red or yellow spots along each side. At the beginning of the summer, they spin a flimsy cocoon in which to pupate, either low down on the larval plant, or on the ground. The Small Apollo is single- brooded.
Austria / France / France: Mainland / Germany (Irregular Vagrant) / Italy / Italy: Mainland / Liechtenstein / European Russia / Switzerland /