The butterfly was sighted and photographed in September 2023,during a trek to Manimahesh Lake in Chamba by Gajinder Verma and Abinash Thakur, both forest guards of Chamba Forest Circle, Himachal Pradesh Forest Department.
It is an extremely rare butterfly and has never been photographed before in Himachal Pradesh.
Distribution range: It is found from Ladakh to West Nepal and it flies between 3,500 to 4,800 metres in the inner Himalayas.
Appearance
It closely resembles Ladakh Banded Apollo (Parnnasius stoliczkanus) but the discal band on the upper fore wing in dusted Apollo is complete and extends from costa to vein one while this discal band is incomplete and extends only up to vein four in Ladakh Banded Apollo.
Moreover, the Dark marginal band on the hind wings is much narrower in Dusted Apollo while it is broad in Ladakh Banded Apollo.
