Lycaena dispar (Haworth, 1803) Large Copper, Grober Feuerfalter, Grand cuivre ou Cuivre des marais, Червонец непарный, Տարազույգ կապտաթիթեռ
Distribution and biological peculiarities in Armenia: The species is widely distributed throughout the northern Eurasia. For Armenia the species was mentioned only once in the book of Grand Duke N.M. Romanoff's (1884), for Lichk village. Since there are two Lichk villages in Armenia - on at the Zangezur Mountains and another at the Lake Sevan, some discussions on the proper location took place, which nevertheless ended with a conclusion that the species was recorded at the Lichk of Zangezur Mountains. The fact is confirmed by tracking the expedition of N.M. Romanoff in South Caucasus and by the fact that the species was also collected the the other side of the ridge - near Ordubad village in Nakhichevan. There is no much known about the species in Armenia, however the data from Caucasus tell that this part of the world is occupied by subspecies L.d. rutila (Werneburg, 1864). At the Caucasus the species occupies wet meadows mostly at the riparian zone, occurring from 500 m a.s.l. and higher, the host plants of the species are various Rumex spp., and the butterflies are on wing from June till late October, maybe in several generations.
Population dynamics: As it was shown above - there is no evidence of the species presence in Armenia since 1884. Therefore, either the species was extinct locally, or still there are some populations which have not yet been found in Armenia. Presumably, the reason of local extinction could be the climate change, which influenced humidity of the areas and at some stage caused interruption of the life cycle of the species; obviously the question requires further investigations.
Conservation measures: The species is listed in the Global Red List as Near Threatened, in European Red List as Least concern, and in Red Book of Armenia as CR B1a+B2a. The species is not included in the CITES Convention but is listed in the Annex II of the Bern Convention. The proposed measures include development of country wide survey of the possible habitats of the species, aimed at determination of new populations or ascertaining of the fact of its Extinction from Armenia. All the further measures can be developed only after that decision.