Lasiommata megera (Linnaeus, 1767)  
Wall Brown, Mauerfuchs, Megere ou Satyre, Бархатница мегера, Մեգերա

Distribution and biological peculiarities in Armenia: 
The species is distributed in Northern Africa, Western, Central, and Southern Europe, Asia Minor, Syria, Lebanon, and Iran. Armenia is populated by Transcaucasia's endemic subspecies L. m. megerina (Herrich-Schäffer, 1856), which inhabits wide variety of habitats throughout the country at the elevations between 600 and 2500 m a.s.l., although preferring open grasslands. The species is known to use wide variety of Gramineae as host plants; those include Bromus, Deschampsia, Dactylis, Brachypodium, and others. The species gives two to three generations per year depending on elevation; the butterflies are on wing from late April till late October.

Population dynamics:
The species is uncommon to rare within typical habitat. Interestingly, this widely specialized species shows moderate decline during 2003-2013 (p<0.05), the reasons of which,are probably related to overgrazing but nonetheless have to be additionally investigated.

Conservation measures: 
The species is not included in the Global and National Red Lists, as well as not included in CITES and Bern Conventions, however it was evaluated for the European Red List as Least Concern. Preliminary evaluation of its conservation status for Armenia suggests it as Near Threatened. The species range within the country is covered by almost all Protected Areas, Emerald Sites, and Prime Butterfly Areas. Among proposed conservation measures it is suggested: (1) to include the species into next edition of the Red Book of Animals of Armenia; (2) to investigate the reasons of population decline; (3) to develop and introduce habitat friendly grazing schemes.

Photo: C.R. Pape