Erebia medusa (Denis & Schiffermuller, 1775)  
Woodland Ringlet, Rundaugen-Mohrenfalter, Moire franconien ou Franconien ou Negre a bandes fauves, Чернушка медуза, Սևուկ մեդուզա

Distribution and biological peculiarities in Armenia: 
The species is distributed in Central and South-eastern Europe and Asia Minor. Armenia is inhabited by subspecies E. m. psodea (Hübner, 1804), which predominantly occupies meadows and humid mountain steppes at the elevation range between 2000 and 2800 m a.s.l. The larvae are known to grow on various Gramineae: Panicum, Setaria, Brachypodium, Festuca, Bromus, and others. The flight period of the species is from early June till late July depending on elevation; the species gives one generation per year.

Population dynamics:
The abundance of Woodland Ringlet can be considered as slightly uncommon within typical habitat, and its population trend demonstrates stability during 2003-2013 (p>0.05), however its density was considerably low in the degraded grasslands, which indicates that overgrazing can influence the species, however probably longer period for significant demonstration of the population trend is needed.  

Conservation measures: 
The species is not included in the Global and Armenian Red Lists, as well as in CITES and Bern Conventions, however it was evaluated for the European Red Book receiving the status of Least Concern - the same that it deserves for Armenia, taking the current circumstances into account. Nevertheless a reservation should be made on necessity of monitoring of the species, in order to obtain an early warning of population decline and development of the protection measures. While the current distribution of the Woodland Ringlet is covered by number of Protected Areas and Emerald Sites, most of its population lives in community lands allocated for grazing and mowing. Therefore, although there is no need for special conservation measures, for the species its sensibility towards grassland degradation should be taken into consideration.

Photo: K. Aghababyan