简介：TheApollobutterfly,Parnassiusapollo(Linnaeus),wascommoninEuropeover100yearsago,butcurrentlyitisconsideredasnearthreatened.Differentconservationprogramshavepromotedthepersistenceofthisspecies;however,itisstillendangered.AnexampleofsuchprogramswastheactiondevotedtoreestablishtheApollobutterflypopulationinPieninyNationalPark(Poland)fromonly20-30individualswhichhadsurvivedtillthelastdecadeofthe20thcentury.Thisreintroductionhasbeensuccessful;however,unexpecteddevelopmentalproblemsappeared.Butterflieswithdeformedorreducedwingsbecamefrequentinthepopulationlivinginthenaturalhabitat,andparticularlyamongthoserearedunderseminaturalconditions(inthesameenvironment,butfencedbyanet).Untilrecently,reasonsforthesemalformationsremainedunknown.However,reportspublishedduringlastmonthsindicatedthattherearegenetic,biochemical,andmicrobiologicalfactorscontributingtothisphenomenon.Inthemalformedindividuals,lesionsinthewinglessgeneanddysfunctionsoflaccase1and2werefoundtobesignificantlymorefrequentthaninnormalinsects.AlargefractionofbutterflieswithdeformedorreducedwingswasdevoidoftheprokaryoticsymbiontWolbachia,whichwaspresentinmostnormalindividuals.Moreover,Yersiniapseudotuberculosis(Pfeiffer)SmithandThai,andSerratiasp.,bacteriapathogenictoinsects,weredetectedinthebiologicalmaterialfrombothnormalandmalformedbutterfliesfromthispopulation.Thesefindingsaresummarizedanddiscussedinthisreview,inthelightofconservationofinsectsandrestitutionoftheirpopulationsfromalownumberofindividuals.