Erebia aethiops (Esper, 1777) Scоtch Argus, Graubindiger Mohrenfalter, Moire sylvocole ou Grand negre, Чернушка эфиопка, Էֆիոփյան սևուկ
Distribution and biological peculiarities in Armenia: The species has a wide range including the French Alps, Germany, Balkans, Apennines, Asia Minor, the Urals, Caucasus and Spain. Armenia is inhabited by subspecies E. a. melusina Herrich-Schäffer, [1847], which occupies mainly deciduous forests and woodlands at the elevation range between 800 and 2200 m a.s.l. Among the host-plants several Gramineae are known, including Dactylis spp., Agrostis spp, and Poa annua. The species has one generation per year, and the butterflies fly from late June till mid August.
Population dynamics: The species can be considered as uncommon within typical habitat; having stable population trend in a period from 2003 to 2013 (p>0.05), however its density is distinctly lower in the degraded forests. It appears that although the species can survive the conditions of non-intensive forest logging, it, nevertheless, shows some level of sensitivity towards habitat change, which might appear for a longer periods of tracking the population trend.
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 assessed for the European Red Book as Least Concern. Taking the given conditions into account, the species deserves the same status Least Concern at the National level. Although some part of its distribution is covered by Protected Areas and Emerald Sites, majority of its distribution lays within forestry enterprises. Also the species is presented in the Prime Butterfly Areas Lichk, Gyumorats, Kajaran, and Gnisheek. At current there is no necessity in developing of conservation measures, however the monitoring of the species has to be continued and alternative sustainable practices of forest management should be developed and introduced.