Eastern Festoon
CR

Eastern Festoon

Zerynthia cerisy

UnknownNTEUNTEU

Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC) via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allancastria_cerisyi

Overview

Allancastria cerisyi, the eastern festoon, is an Old World papilionid butterfly whose geographical range extends from the Balkans to include Turkey and the near Middle East. It exhibits several geographical variants.

The Eastern Festoon butterfly faces severe population declines primarily due to habitat destruction and fragmentation of its Mediterranean coastal and hillside environments. Urban development, agricultural intensification, and tourism infrastructure have significantly reduced the availability of its host plants and suitable breeding habitats. Climate change poses an additional threat by altering the distribution of both the butterfly and its essential Aristolochia host plants.

Threat summary

Other threatened species in Papilionidae

Southern SwallowtailVU

Southern Swallowtail

Papilio alexanor

Unknown
Scarce SwallowtailVU

Scarce Swallowtail

Iphiclides podalirius

Unknown
ApolloVU

Apollo

Parnassius apollo

Unknown
Clouded ApolloVU

Clouded Apollo

Parnassius mnemosyne

Unknown

Frequently asked questions

Why is Eastern Festoon classified as Critically Endangered?
Eastern Festoon is classified as Critically Endangered — facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild — because population sizes are very small, declining sharply, or restricted to a tiny range. The Eastern Festoon butterfly faces severe population declines primarily due to habitat destruction and fragmentation of its Mediterranean coastal and hillside environments. Urban development, agricultural intensification, and tourism infrastructure have significantly reduced the availability of its host plants and suitable breeding habitats. Climate change poses an additional threat by altering the distribution of both the butterfly and its essential Aristolochia host plants.
Where does Eastern Festoon live?
Eastern Festoon occurs in across multiple regions. Country-level distribution data is sourced from the IUCN Red List and cross-referenced with GBIF occurrences.
What are the main threats to Eastern Festoon?
The main threats to Eastern Festoon are ai-1, ai-2, ai-3, and ai-4. The full IUCN-classified threat record for this species is detailed on the species page.

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