Some forms of Oeme have very characteristic white-pupilled ocelli especially in the upf s4 and s5, although I suspect it gets its name from the distinctive unh ocelli with clear white pupils - H&R describes these white pupils as "conspicuously brilliant". The ocelli of the female are larger and brighter on both surfaces. The Pyrenean subspecies spodia form pacula has very large and bright ocelli. Unfortunately the name is a misnomer for many of the other races of oeme.

The underside could be confused with the Woodland Ringlet (E. medusa) although medusa has four unh ocelli to oeme's five (arranged evenly), and the underside of the oeme antennal club is black (brown in medusa). Oeme is generally an altitude species, although medusa's range is from sea level to as high as 1800m. In some populations oeme can have very small ocelli, even blind (with no white pupils) which can lead to confusion in identification, especially with the Yellow-spotted Ringlet (E. manto), although my feeling is that if oeme ocelli are blind, they are still quite large i.e. not pinpricks, and that the surrounding red post-discal bands hug the ocelli quite closely, compared with manto where the red bands can be quite wide. 18845 on the manto page is an example.

However, despite the books focussing on medusa as the principal species with which oeme could be confused, my feeling is that the male can be very difficult to separate from the Almond-eyed Ringlet (E. alberganus) where they both fly. The male alberganus has upf red spots described as lanceolate with, according to H&R, minute white pupils. Does it follow that the uph red spots of alberganus are also lanceolate? If oeme uph pupils are described as conspicuously brilliant, they key ID feature for oeme according to H&R, is this exclusively true for oeme or can alberganus have clear white pupils, too? If yes, then why specify this key ID pointer for oeme.

observations

the clear white upf and uph pupils lead me to believe that this is oeme, despite the red post-discal marks in s4 and s5 being decidedly lanceolate, often stated as being an indicator of alberganus.

this female is typical oeme with characteristic small but bold upf and uph clear white pupilled ocelli encased in red spots that are clearly not lanceolate. Alberganus was common in this locality but 7866 looked very different from them.

a female, based on body shape, and on the larger and brighter ocelli on both wings. There is an additional ocellus in upf s2 and a very small one, even with a white pupil, in s3; the red band is very narrow and almost looks like extra red rings around the ocelli.