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Iphiclides podalirius
Large butterfly. Flambé in French, Segelfalter in German, Ιφικλείδης ο Ποδαλείριος in Greek.
Rural area
Sometimes people confuses Iphiclides and Machaon but if you search you will see they have different patterns. Machaon and Iphiclides podalirius are related by their names: Iphiclides podalirius was named from the Argonaut Ίφικλος and from Ποδαλείριος who was one of the surgeon doctors of Greeks during the Trojan war (soldier doctor, he healed Philoctetes and he was one of the soldiers in the Trojan horse). Ποδαλείριος was the brother of another healer, Μαχαών who gave his name to the Machaon butterfly. Contrary to his brother, Machaon was killed during the Trojan war.
Spotted on Aug 16, 2017
Submitted on Aug 16, 2017
2 Comments
Thank you Daniele. I found interesting/amusing that Hübner in 1819 named 18 butterflies from the Argonaut compagnons of Jason and Linné at 1758 named a series of butterflies with names from Greek and Trojan heroes of the Iliad.
Beautiful butterfly and interesting notes Ioannis!