Eversmann's Parnassian

Parnassius eversmanni · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Papilionidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Eversmann's Parnassian
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0

Males have a yellow ground colour while females are yellowish-white. The forewing shows a grey base and costal margin, a glossy grey distal edge, and two curved discal bands, one of which may be faint. Caterpillars feed on several Corydalis species, including C. gigantea and C. pauciflora. It looks very similar to the female of Parnassius felderi.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Males are yellow on the ground colour; females are yellowish-white. Forewings are grey at the base and costal margin, glossy grey at the distal margin, with a curved discal band and a sometimes faint submarginal band.

Source: Wikipedia

Lookalikes

It closely resembles the female of Parnassius felderi in pattern.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 1 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Alaska.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Eversmann's Parnassian photo 2
Photo: Nick Block, CC BY
Eversmann's Parnassian photo 3
Photo: Akr, CC BY
Eversmann's Parnassian photo 4
Photo: Eamon Corbett, CC BY
Eversmann's Parnassian photo 5
Photo: Eamon Corbett, CC BY

Same family (Papilionidae)

Eastern Tiger SwallowtailEastern Tiger SwallowtailPapilio glaucusBlack SwallowtailBlack SwallowtailPapilio polyxenesPipevine SwallowtailPipevine SwallowtailBattus philenorOld World SwallowtailOld World SwallowtailPapilio machaonSpicebush SwallowtailSpicebush SwallowtailPapilio troilusEastern Giant SwallowtailEastern Giant SwallowtailPapilio cresphontesDamages trees, gardens or crops

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parnassius_eversmanni

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.