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Erebia triaria

de Prunner's Ringlet

Field Notes

Valais, Switzerland, May 2006

Valais, Switzerland, May 2006

Valais, Switzerland, May 2006

Valais, Switzerland, May 2006

Valais, Switzerland, May 2005

Valais, Switzerland, May 2005

Valais, Switzerland, May 2005

Valais, Switzerland, May 2004

Valais, Switzerland, May 2004

Just about to fly.

Valais, Switzerland, May 2004

Typical habitat in mid-Valais, 1300m altitude.

Provence, France, June 2003

Provence, France, June 2003

Provence, France, June 2003

Provence, France, June 2003

Provence, France, June 2003

This butterfly took me a long time to come across. It flies rather early for an Erebia, most of those I saw in early June in France 2003 were already passed their best, those of mid-May 2004 in Valais were in pretty good condition. They are somewhat larger than I expected from the books. As can be seen in all the above photographs the key distinguishing feature is very obvious - the third spot nearest the forewing apex is well in line with its two neighbours. I have often found Erebia meolans (which is superficially similar to triaria) that approaches this but never convinced me. Now I've seen them I know it is un mistakable. The undersides are much more mottled than meolans too.

The species appears to be highly variable though. The size of the "key spot" (in space 6) varies widely, as does the spot on the upper forewing in space 3. The latter is quite large in the first photograph with wings open, much smaller in the 2nd upperside photo and almost disappeared in the 3rd upperside photo. In Switzerland the underside seems to be much darker on average than southern France and less varigated.

Each underside has variable eye spots on the hindwing and the mottling is highly variable along with the degree of white scaling. Generally they were very dark underneath but there were a few that were much warmer brown (see last photograph above). This is almost certainly a male-female split.

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