Ringlet (aphantopus hyperantus)
2008 photos highlighted green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
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| 05_18-29_male_Bucks, UK_26Jun05 | 04_355-18_female_Herts, UK_11Jul04 | 11691_female_Alpes Maritimes_28Jun08 |
Only one representative in the UK (in the south at least), but some forty or so distant cousins in Europe in the erebia family, where they are generally restricted to the mountainous areas of the Alps, Pyrenees and the Massif Central. Hyperantus is an attractive chocolate-brown with yellow-ringed underside ocelli and is considerably more attractive than many of its scarcer cousins. I rarely see it in France as it does not seem to occur in southern Var (Lafranchis shows it occurring in Var, but this may be in the north), so these old upperside photos really do not do it justice.
05_18-29: a male, characterised by the small or absent upperside ocelli.
04_355-18: a female, as indicated by the larger ocelli and the shorter and fatter body shape.
11691: I think this is a female based on the lighter ground colour, the paler submarginal band, the more pronounced ocelli, and the rounded hindwing shape, although I would have expected slightly more scalloping.
