Distribution and biological peculiarities in Armenia: The species is distributed in Europe, South-western Siberia, Southern Ural, Asia Minor, Caucasus, Transcaucasia, and Lebanon. The species is monotypic. In Armenia Ilex Hairstreak is inhabiting deciduous forests in Central North-eastern and South-eastern Armenia between 1200 and 2200 m a.s.l. The species has patchy distribution, as it prefers more humid parts of the forest. The larval host plant is Quercus sp. Butterflies are on wing from end of June until beginning of August.
Population dynamics: The species is rather rare within a typical habitat, which partly can be result of preferences of the species as it canopy. Current data is not sufficient for computation of the population trend, however the high level of specialization of the species makes it vulnerable towards habitat transformations such as tree logging and climate change.
Conservation measures: The species has not been evaluated for the Global and European Red Lists as well as for Red Book of Animals of Armenia (2010). Also the species is not included in CITES and Bern Conventions. At current the distribution range of the species is partly covered by Dilijan National Park and Zangezur Biosphere Complex. Also some populations of the species are covered by Lichk Prime Butterfly Area. Preliminary evaluation of conservation status of Ilex Hairstreak suggests it as Near Threatened. Among conservation measures for the species it is suggested to add more of the forest sites into Emerald Network and develop management plans for the existing Emerald Sites. Also it is important to improve the forestry management introducing selective cutting methods instead of clear cutting and develop non-timber forest production concept as an option to decrease the load on the forest ecosystem.