Aricia anteros (Freyer, 1838)  
Blue Argus, Azure pont-euxin, Голубянка антэрос, Անթերոս կապտաթիթեռ

Distribution and biological peculiarities in Armenia: 
The species is found in Macedonia, Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine and in Romania. Armenia is inhabited by nominate subspecies, although there are some debates about the Armenian populations, which inhabit Northern and Southern regions of the country. Some authors suggest that Southern Armenia is inhabited by different species Aricia crassipuncta (Christoph, 1893), and this hypothesis requires additional study. In Armenia the species inhabits mountain meadows and humid steppes at the elevation range from 1800 to 2700 m a.s.l. The host plants of the species belong to Geranium spp. and Erodium spp. The species gives one to two generations per year depending on elevation, so the butterflies are usually on wing from late May (sometimes in South-eastern Armenia even mid May) till late August.

Population dynamics:
The species is usually rare within typical habitat, but its population trend remains stable during 2003-2013 (p>0.05). Nevertheless, it should be stated that the species has noticeably lower density in degraded grasslands, which allows assumption that the population trend could be different over longer period of time.

Conservation measures: 
The species is not included in the Global and National Red Lists, as well as in CITES and Bern conventions, however it is listed in European Red Book as Near Threatened. Preliminary assessment of Brown Argus' conservation status for Armenia suggests it as Least Concern, however there are two important measures to consider: (1) study of taxonomy of the species in Armenia with the main aim of clarification - whether there are two species living in Armenia or only one; (2) it is important to continue the species' monitoring aimed at early determination of changes in population and development of early mitigation measures. At current the species' distribution in the country is partly covered by number of protected areas and Emerald Sites; Also the species is presented in Gyumorats, Lichk, Kajaran, Gnisheek, and Artanish-Shorzha Prime Butterfly areas. 

Photo: G. Khanamirian