The Biological Traits And Effects Of Environmental Factors On Behaviors Of Parnassius Szechenyii Butterfly At Mount. Qilian, Qinghai

To understand the biological traits, population size, and the effects of environmental factors on behaviors of Parnassius szechenyii, field researches, combining mark-recapture and sampling methods, were conducted on the mountains at Qilian county, Qinghai, during June to August,2009. The results were shown as followed:1. The nectar plants of P. szechenyii includes Soroseris gillii, Gentiana squarrosa, Anemone obtusiloba, Alliumcyaneum kegel, Caragana jubata, and butterflies visit those plants at midday time (12:00-13:00) usually.2. Females usually lay eggs during 12:00 to 14:00, and select the boot part of bush and Gramineae plants as laying sites.3. With mark-recapture method and Jolly random, the population size of study area was estimated as 625-72.4. Due to the behavior difference of male and female butterfly during mating stage, there had 1221 males and 444 females were captured, and the sexual ratio was 2.75:1, which had significant difference (T test, P<0.01)5. Butterflies appear firstly at June with small numbers, reach high number at July, and decease sharply at the end of July and August. The flying butterflies reach highest number at 12:30-13:30.6. The butterflies usually fly on the middle of slopes and areas with nectar plants and avoid ridges, valleys, wood, and vegetation destructed areas.