Lefebvre's Ringlet
Erebia lefebvrei
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Erebia lefebvrei

Val d'Aran, July 2005

Erebia lefebvrei

Val d'Aran, July 2008

Erebia lefebvrei

Val d'Aran, July 2005

Erebia lefebvrei

Val d'Aran, July 2008

Val d'Aran, July 2004

Erebia lefebvrei distribution

Distribution

I first found this lovely ringlet in July 2003 but saw only one specimen and could not film it. In later years, revisiting the same place, I did manage a few poor shots, but this is a difficult butterfly to approach. Its habitat is steep, shaly scree, where it is almost impossible to move around without risk to life and limb, and it is very reluctant to move even a metre or two off this surface into more accessible, grassy terrain. I haven't been back since 2008, so haven't had a chance to try my zoom lens on it yet.

In the central and western Pyrenees, Lefebvre's ringlet is easily identified by the hindwing, unique among ringlets, and the way the forewing black spots are arranged right on the edge of the orange band, often bursting out of it, especially in the male. In eastern Pyrenean populations, this red band is reduced and it is completely absent in subspecies astur from the Picos de Europa. In that subspecies, the hindwing markings are also very much reduced and the butterfly is essentially black above and below (or grey beneath in the female) with two or three white-pupilled black spots on the forewing.

The butterflies fly very locally in July and August at altitudes between 1700m and 2700m (my colony is at about 2300m). The caterpillars feed on grasses, including fescues, and hibernate once, I think - I can't find any information suggesting the life cycle lasts two years as it does with many high-altitude Erebia species in the Alps.