Armenia part VIII

Day 12: Gnishik - southern slopes

Carcharodus lavatherae

Anthocharis cardamines, this individual has some features of the southeastern subspecies 'phoenissa'; the orange apical spot is bordered by clear dark dusting

Leptidea duponcheli

Lycaena thersamon

Polyommatus thersites

Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) cf. huberti

More information to follow...

Nymphalis xanthomelas

 Argynnis pandora

Chazara persephone

Coenonympha leander

Habitat view, the few houses of the village of Gnishik at the left in the background

Provisional species list

Erynnis tages

Pyrgus sidae

Spialia orbifer

Carcharodus lavatherae

Ochlodes sylvanus

Thymelicus sylvestris

Parnassius mnemosyne

Iphiclides podalirius

Leptidea duponcheli

Aporia crataegi

Pieris ergane

Pieris pseudorapae

Pontia edusa

Colias alfacariensis

Gonepteryx farinosa

Lycaena phlaeas

Lycaena tityrus

Lycaena thersamon

Tomares romanovi

Callophrys paulae

Cupido minimus

Cupido osiris

Glaucopsyche alexis

Pseudophilotes vicrama

Plebejus argus

Aricia agestis

Cyaniris semiargus

Polyommatus amandus

Polyommatus icarus

Polyommatus thersites

Polyommatus bellargus

Polyommatus huberti

Argynnis niobe

Argynnis pandora

Issoria lathonia

Euphydryas aurinia

Melitaea cinxia

Melitaea didyma

Melitaea arduinna

Aglais urticae

Nymphalis xanthomelas

Polygonia c-album

Libythea celtis

Lasiommata megera

Coenonympha arcania

Coenonympha pamphilus

Coenonympha leander

Hyponephele lycaon

Erebia medusa

Melanargia russiae

Chazara persephone

Armenia part VII

Day 11: Selim pass

The day before I moved back from Jermuk to Yeghegnadzor and I stayed at a camping site just south of the way to Selim pass. As this was a strategic location from where I could travel easily to different locations I decided to stay there for the next few days.
My first goal from there was to visit Selim pass.

Carcharodus lavatherae

Euchloe ausonia

Lycaena alciphron

Lycaena asabinus

Lycaena ochimus

Cyaniris semiargus bellis

Plebejus eurypilus

Polyommatus coelestinus

Melitaea persea

Polygonia egea, upperside and underside

Zygaena cambysea, male on the left, female on the right

Zygaena purpuralis chamurli

Habitat

Provisional species list

Erynnis tages

Erynnis marloyi

Pyrgus serratulae

Pyrgus armoricanus

Pyrgus alveus

Spialia orbifer

Carcharodus alceae

Carcharodus lavatherae

Ochlodes sylvanus

Thymelicus lineola

Parnassius mnemosyne

Iphiclides podalirius

Papilio machaon

Leptidea duponcheli

Anthocharis cardamines

Aporia crataegi

Pieris rapae

Pieris ergane

Pontia edusa

Colias croceus

Colias alfacariensis

Euchloe ausonia

Lycaena phlaeas

Lycaena tityrus

Lycaena alciphron

Cupido osiris

Glaucopsyche alexis

Pseudophilotes vicrama

Aricia agestis

Cyaniris semiargus

Polyommatus amandus

Polyommatus icarus

Polyommatus bellargus

Lycaena asabinus

Lycaena ochimus

Plebejus eurypilus

Polyommatus coelestinus

Turanana endymion

Argynnis niobe

Argynnis pandora

Issoria lathonia

Euphydryas aurinia

Melitaea phoebe

Melitaea cinxia

Melitaea arduinna

Vanessa cardui

Aglais urticae

Polygonia egea

Limenitis reducta

Lasiommata maera

Coenonympha arcania

Maniola jurtina

Erebia medusa

Melanargia russiae

Melitaea persea

Neptis rivularis

Thaleropis ionia

Armenia part VI

Day 8: Meghri -> Jermuk
This day was spent mostly on travelling from Meghri to Jermuk with a shared taxi. The main observation were some fresh males of Melitaea caucasogenita on the place where we had a lunch stop. Unfortunately too active to have pictures of.
In Jermuk my plan was to meet up with Peter Adriaens, who is spending some 4 months in Armenia working on Brown Bear monitoring.


Day 9: Vorotan pass
I went with Peter to the high slopes (2300-2700m) above Vorotan pass on this day. Main objective was to look for some Brown Bear traces and to look for Radde's accentor. This last one gave very nice views with several birds around. I spare you from the brown bear dung pics...
Poor day butterfly wise because of hard winds blowing constantly. Also flight season of most butterflies that fly on this height still had to start. Most important sightings were some whites of the napi-complex with very obvious suffused pattern. Dependent on the source this would be Pieris bryoniae or Pieris bowdeni in this region, a Transcaucasian counterpart of Pieris bryoniae. One Pyrgus melotis also showed that on 2500+m we were still early in the season for butterflies.


Day 10: Arpa valley south of Jermuk
A very nice warm day, still lots of wind but because walking in a deep gorge there was always some corner out of the wind where butterflies gathered. I walked the old road from just south of Kechut reservoir to Gndevaz village. The road is still on the road maps as a normal road but lots of rocks are scattered all over the road, even with 4-wheel drive you wouldn't manage to use this road.

Eogens alcides

Pyrgus melotis

Papilio alexanor

Pontia chloridice

Lycaena asabinus

Cupido osiris

Turanana endymion

Euphydryas aurinia

Libythea celtis, green color morph on the foodplant Celtis species

 

Idem but a younger brown color morph

Habitat in the gorge where P. alexanor and P. chloridice were flying

View on the Gndvanq monastery where I got out of the gorge at the end of the afternoon

Provisional species list

Erynnis tages

Erynnis marloyi

Pyrgus melotis

Pyrgus sidae

Spialia orbifer

Ochlodes sylvanus

Thymelicus lineola

Thymelicus sylvestris

Eogenes alcides

Parnassius mnemosyne

Iphiclides podalirius

Papilio alexanor

Leptidea duponcheli

Anthocharis cardamines

Aporia crataegi

Pieris brassicae

Pieris krueperi

Pieris ergane

Pontia chloridice

Pontia edusa

Colias croceus

Colias alfacariensis

Lycaena phlaeas

Lycaena tityrus

Lycaena alciphron

Lycaena asabinus

Satyrium abdominalis

Cupido osiris

Glaucopsyche alexis

Pseudophilotes vicrama

Aricia agestis

Aricia eumedon

Polyommatus amandus

Polyommatus icarus

Polyommatus bellargus

Polyommatus coelestinus

Plebejus eurypilus

Turanana endymion

Argynnis niobe

Argynnis pandora

Issoria lathonia

Euphydryas aurinia

Melitaea cinxia

Melitaea persea

Melitaea phoebe/pseudosibina

Melitaea telona

Neptis rivularis

Vanessa cardui

Aglais urticae

Polygonia egea

Lasiommata megera

Lasiommata maera

Coenonympha arcania

Maniola jurtina

Melanargia larissa

Melanargia russiae

Chazara persephone

Libythea celtis

Armenia part V

Day 7: Kuris and surroundings

For this day I had the choice between trying again for Polyommatus damonides on the road to the airport (see Armenia part IV) or joining on a trip a bit higher up in the mountains with Alex Dantchenko, Russian Lycaenid specialist who I accidentally met in the B&B I stayed in Meghri. I made the second choice. Although this meant I would miss P. damonides, joining Alex Dantchenko was a more than unique chance.

Pieris pseudorapae

A taxon in the Pieris-napi-group. According to some authors this taxon should be synonymised with Pieris napi meridionalis but apparently breeding experiments between pseudorapae & napi suggest it to be two species. 

Colias aurorina, female

Note the very deep orange on the bit of front wing you can see on this pic, I have another pic of the same individual being attacked by a male Colias croceus and then the difference in color is very obvious.

Colias aurorina, female of the pale morph on the possible larval food plant, Astragalus species

Lycaena thersamon, male

Satyrium ilicis

Melanargia larissa

Chazara briseis

Provisional species list

Erynnis marloyi Pyrgus sidae Carcharodus lavatherae Ochlodes sylvanus Thymelicus lineola Thymelicus sylvestris Parnassius mnemosyne Iphiclides podalirius Papilio machaon Aporia crataegi Pontia edusa Colias croceus Colias alfacariensis Colias aurorina Gonepteryx rhamni Pieris pseudorapae Tomares romanovi Lycaena phlaeas Lycaena tityrus Lycaena thersamon Satyrium ilicis Satyrium abdominalis Cupido minimus Cupido osiris Cupido argiades Celastrina argiolus Glaucopsyche alexis Aricia agestis Cyaniris semiargus Polyommatus amandus Polyommatus icarus Polyommatus bellargus Plebejus eurypilus Libythea celtis Argynnis niobe Argynnis pandora Issoria lathonia Brenthis daphne Melitaea phoebe/pseudosibina Melitaea didyma Melitaea interrupta Vanessa cardui Aglais io Polygonia c-album Polygonia egea Nymphalis polychloros Limenitis reducta Neptis rivularis Lasiommata maera Coenonympha leander Maniola jurtina Hyponephele lycaon Melanargia galathea Melanargia larissa Melanargia russiae Hipparchia pellucida Brintesia circe Chazara briseis Pseudochazara thelephassa

Armenia part IV

Day 5:  Yeghegnadzor -> Meghri

Day 5 was spent mostly on travelling from Yeghegnadzor to Meghri. The distance is about 250km but it took me more or less a full day (2 hikes and 2 taxis) to get in Meghri. One of the only observations to remember is one Hipparchia parisatis just when I arrived to Meghri. Unfortunately it disappeared too quickly behind some trees to enjoy it much.
A roller in the village of Meghri and some laughing doves added with the hot temperatures created an eastern atmosphere. Near a ruin in the town centre I had another nice new dragonfly, Onychogomphus flexuosus

Day 6: Meghri

To the west of Meghri there is a road to an old airport and this road is where I spent my day.
A very nice but very hot area. Unfortunately not really being cared of by the locals. On the habitat picture you can see a big grey area low in the valley on the right side. This was a waste dump that was burning constantly. In probably one of the driest areas of Armenia one would presume that it would be logic to everyone that burning some waste is at least to be called irresponsible ... These slopes are the only location in Armenia where Polyommatus damonides lives and one of the very few locations in the world (only other known locations are in the nearby Naxcivan enclave of Azerbaijan. Unfortunately I didn't find the species, apparently the species was rather late this year with only a few males already flying around.

Coenonympha saadi

Satyrium hyrcanicum

Satyrium abdominalis

Pseudochazara cf. (mammura) sharudensis

Chamaesphecia elampiformis (det. Theo Garrevoet)

Provisional species list

Carcharodus alceae

Thymelicus sylvestris

Papilio machaon

Aporia crataegi

Pieris rapae

Pieris ergane

Pontia edusa

Colias croceus Gonepteryx farinosa

Lycaena phlaeas

Satyrium spini

Satyrium abdominalis

Satyrium hyrcanicum Aricia agestis Polyommatus icarus (persicus) Plebejus eurypilus

Tarucus balkanicus

Argynnis pandora

Vanessa cardui

Limenitis reducta

Lasiommata megera

Maniola jurtina

Melanargia larissa

Hipparchia pellucida

Brintesia circe

Chazara briseis

Chazara persephone

Coenonympha saadi

Pseudochazara (mamurra) sharudensis

Satyrus amasinus