Rediscovery of Lycian Blue in Antalya

Lycian Blue (Polyommatus lycius) is a Turkish endemic butterfly species which is described in Antalya. In the Red Book of Butterflies in Turkey (2011) it is written for the species ‘This species, which is found in two regions about 130 km from each other, has a very limited distribution. Its total population is estimated at less than 1,000 individuals, possibly less than 100 individuals in each of the five sites, considered to have a low density. On the eastern slopes of the Bey Mountains, especially in Sakl?kent, where the species was recorded, the main threat was stated as construction (Eken et al. 2006). Although the butterfly was not common here in 1999, F. Carbonell estimates that the population is likely extinct due to urbanisation. ‘

The old records of the butterfly only were in Isparta and Antalya. Thanks to efforts of the butterfly enthusiasts the species is also recorded in Burdur and Denizli as a new record in recent decade. Also the butterfly is recorded in the location at Isparta continuously after 2016.

I have been looking for the butterfly since 2010 in Antalya but I couldn’t find any speciements for 9 years. Afterwards I went and photographed the species at Isparta on 14.07.2019 .We have only found one fresh male in the field after two hours of searching with 6 people. As I have the data of continuous records in Isparta I was able to check the exact flying period of the species which is more dense between the 3th week of July and the beginning of August.

In 2021 which was a very dry year and Antalya was suffering from a huge forest fire. Even with that we went to Sakl?kent to photograph some summer butterflies on 29.07.2021. We went in early morning and started to photograph some sleeping butterflies. We photographed some Meleager's blue ( Polyommatus daphnis) which is very similar to Lycian Blue and between them one specimen flew away. I wasn't thinking that we would be able to see Lycian blue but there it was. A bit worned out male of Lycian Blue.It was a great surprise. We have photographed the specimen and searched the area afterwards for other speciements but it was the only one.

This year we went in the exact same week at 01.08.2022 but the season was different. This year was much colder and rainy than the previous year and the season was equal to 3th week of July according to previous year. We have found 10 specimens of Lycian Blue 9 male and 1 female. Most of them were fresh. This population is the exact one which was thought to be extinct a decade ago. Good news is Lycian Blue is still alive but the future of the?population has a very high risk of construction and urbanisation as it was detected 10 years ago. It lives in only a small valley. I hope we can define conservation measures of the species and save the future populations.