Polyommatus cyaneus (Staudinger, 1899)  
Cyaneus Blue, Голубянка темно-синяя. Մուգ կապտաթիթեռ

Distribution and biological peculiarities in Armenia: 
The species is distributed in Asia Minor and Transcaucasia. Armenia is inhabited by the nominate subspecies, which is patchy distributed throughout the country, occupying mainly calcareous grasslands at the elevation range from about 1200 to 2300 m a.s.l. The larval host plant is Onobrychis atropatana. The species gives one generation per year; the butterflies are on wing from early July to late August depending on elevation.

Population dynamics:
The species is quite rare within the typical habitat, which makes it hard to count within the current Butterfly Monitoring Scheme. Thus the existing data is insufficient for computing of its population trend. The host plant of the species is a grassy sainfoin, which is a fodder for livestock, therefore the species could potentially suffer from overgrazing. Also some small scale trade of the species exists as well. 

Conservation measures: 
The species is not included in the Global, European, and Armenian Red Lists. Also it is not included in Appendices of Bern and CITES Conventions. The current conservation status of the species can be estimated as Data Deficient. It is known that some patches of its distribution are located in Khosrov Reserve, Lake Sevan National Park, and Gnishik Protected Landscape, another patch is covered by Jajur Emerald Site. Also the species is presented in Gnisheek and Artanish-Shorzha Prime Butterfly Areas. Obviously, the first step in conservation of the species is detailed study of its distribution, abundance, biological and ecological peculiarities, and assessment of the threats. That information can form a foundation for proper assessment of the species' conservation status, which in its turn can lead towards relevant conservation actions. Also it is suggested to carefully study the taxonomy of the northernmost populations of the species, as it might belong to subspecies P. c. pseudocyanea (Forster, 1956).

Photo: K. Aghababyan