Saturday 12 February 2022

Piedmont Ringlet

Piedmont Ringlet Erebia meolans, Hautes Pyrenees, France. Photo by Loire Valley Time Travel.

The Piedmont Ringlet Erebia meolans (Fr. le Moiré des fétuques) is a species restricted to the mountains of Spain, France and Italy -- the Sierras, Cantabrians, Pyrenees, Massif Central, Jura, Vosges, Alpes and Apennines. Like all alpine ringlet species it is devilishly difficult to tell apart from any of the others, and I got expert help to identify this one. The species is likely to occur in the most varied habitat of all the ringlets, and in the widest range of altitudes, anywhere from 300 to 2400 metres above sea level. I photographed this one having a little drink on a very hot day at about 2000 metres, above Cauterets in Hautes Pyrenees in July 2021.

2 comments:

Katie Zeller said...

Great photo. We had a friend in Spain who collected butterflies and moths from the Pyrenees..., So many beautiful and interesting types.

Susan said...

Katie: I haven't collected since I was a teenager. You do need to collect or have many very good photos of these Erebia sp to confidently tell them apart though.

Post a Comment