Large Keeled Apollo Butterfly Parnassius tianschanicus

The beautiful Large Keeled Apollo Butterfly, sometimes called Tianshan Apollo, is a rare butterfly native to high mountain regions of Central Asia. Those shown were, appropriately, in the Tianshan mountains of southeast Kazakhstan, photos by Alexandra Makhnina.

The Large Keeled Apollo has additional red marks on the forewing compared to the Mountain Apollo, including crimson circles particularly on the larger, more sharply marked female, and has black and white banded antennae. (The Small or Phoebus Apollo can look similar.)