Melitaea didyma (Esper, 1778)  
Spotted Fritillary, Roter Scheckenfalter, Melitee orangee, Шашечница дидима, Դիդիմա

Distribution and biological peculiarities in Armenia: 
The species is distributed in Southern and Central Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and Siberia. Armenia is inhabited by nominate subspecies, which occupies entire country occurring in wide variety of habitats from 400 to 2600 m a.s.l. The Spotted Fritillary is known to use wide variety of host plants, such as Plantago, Veronica, Viola, Scrophularia, Linaria, and Dianthus. In Armenia the species gives to generations per year having butterflies on wing from early May till late August.It is thought that Armenia is inhabited also by similar species Melitaea interrupta Kolenati, 1846, however the question requires further study.

​Population dynamics:
The species is slightly uncommon within typical habitat, showing stable population trend during 2003-2013 (p>0.05). It appears that quite high adaptability of the Spotted Fritillary caused by its ability to use various host-plants helps it to resist the conditions of intensive grazing and mowing, especially because some of the host-plants, such as Plantago spp. are not suffering from those human activities.

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 European Red Book as Least Concern, the same status that the Spotted Fritillary deserves in Armenia. It occurs in majority of Protected Areas, Emerald Sites, and Prime Butterfly Areas, and at current doesn't require any special conservation measures. However it is important to continue its monitoring as one of the main components of various ecosystems, and also it is necessary to study whether the species represents two similar ones -  M. didima and M. interrupta. 

Photo: G. Khanamirian