Brenthis hecate (Denis & Schiffermuller 1775)  
Twin-spot Fritillary, Nacre de la filipendule ou Agave, Перламутровка геката, Հեկաթա

Distribution and biological peculiarities in Armenia: 
The species is found in South-West Europe, South Russia, the Balkans, Asia Minor, Iran and Central Asia. Armenia is inhabited by subspecies B. h. transcaucasica Wnukowsky, 1929, which occurs in mountain meadows and humid steppes at the elevation range from 1800 to 2400 m a.s.l. The host-plants of Twin-spot Fritillary are quite diverse and include Dorycnium suffructicosum, Filipendula spp, and even Onobrychis spp. The butterflies are flying from early June till late July in one generation. 

Population dynamics:
The species is slightly uncommon within typical habitat, showing stable population dynamics for the period from 2003 to 2013 (p>0.05). However it shows clearly lower density in the areas of degraded meadows, which could mean that its population trend for a longer period could be different. 

Conservation measures: 
The species is not included in the Global and National Red Lists, and also is not included in CITES and Bern Conventions. It was evaluated for the European Red Book receiving a status of Least Concern - the same that is preliminary proposed for Armenia. Taking into account that Twin-spot Fritillary is a specialist of quite heavily used habitats - meadows and humid steppes, it is worth to continue tracking of its population trend, aimed at early identification of possible declines, which can lead in development of appropriate measures. The current distribution of the species is partly covered by protected areas and Emerald Sites, as well as several Prime Butterfly Areas: Lichk, Kajaran, Gnisheek, and Artanish-Shorzha.

Photo: K. Aghababyan