Host-plant specialisation and habitat restriction in an endangered insect, Lycaena dispar batavus (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) I. Larval feeding and oviposition preferences
The Large Copper butterfly, Lycaena dispar, is extinct in Britain and rapidly declining in the rest of Europe, due predominantly to loss of its wetland habitats.In the Netherlands the sub-species L.d.batavus is at the edge of its range in Northern Europe and, as with most marginal butterflies, has more specialised food plant and habitat requirement