Large Copper

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Large Copper

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Lycaena
Species:	L. dispar

Binomial name

Lycaena dispar
(Haworth, 1803)

The Large Copper (Lycaena dispar) is a European butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. The British race of this butterfly (dispar) has been extinct for over 150 years (since 1864). Most of our knowledge of its life cycle and ecology comes from studies of the similar race (batavus) found in The Netherlands. The species can be identified by the silvery hindwing undersides, from the large specimens of the related, more common, drier habitat species Lycaena virgaureae and Lycaena hippothoe.

[edit] Conservation

This is one of the butterfly species classified as a priority for protection and re-introduction in the UK under its national Biodiversity Action Plan. The species has been in severe decline in Britain due to the great reduction of fen habitat due to expansion of the human population. In the rest of the Western Europe, the draining of wetlands and building and agricultural activity on shallow riverbanks has caused a strong decline. In Eastern Europe, undeveloped riverbanks and deltas are a habitat for the species, though even there it is somewhat threatened due increasing human influence on these areas.

There have been several reintroduction attempts to sites in both Britain and Ireland, but these have all ultimately failed. Research is now being conducted to see whether a further attempt is worthwhile in more extensive habitats available in the Norfolk Broads.

[edit] References

Gimenez Dixon, M. 1996. Lycaena dispar. In: IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 13 February 2007.