Lesser Mountain Ringlet (Erebia melampus)
2009 photos highlighted in yellow. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
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| 13088_male_Valais, Switzerland_17Jul08 | 18706_male_Savoie_16Jul09 | 8180_male_Vaud, Switzerland_19Jul07 |
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| 18699_male_Savoie_16Jul09 | 8181_male_Vaud, Switzerland_19Jul07 |
A small, high altitude, Erebia ringlet. Although it is one of several smaller Erebia of broadly similar size, I feel it is quite easy to identify (from other common Erebia of the same size) from the highly rounded forewing margin, the "sliced" upf wide red post-discal band with pinprick ocelli in s4 and 5 and to a lesser extent in s3. It is quite similar to the very localised Sudeten Ringlet (E. sudetica) which I have never seen, so I am only going by the book illustrations. The defining characteristic (melampus vs. sudetica) is the unh red post-discal spots, where Lafranchis says the melampus spots in s3 and s4 (the second and third ones from the bottom) are displaced from being in line with the other three, and the spot in s4 is larger than the others, whereas in sudetica they are more or less in line; I would tend to say that the melampus spot in s3 is the one that is displaced, but this is a minor point. It certainly seems true that the spot in s4 is larger, and it also appears that the melampus spots are somewhat lanceolate (leaf-shaped) whereas the sudetica spots appear almost circular.
It is also quite similar to the Eriphyle Ringlet (E. eriphyle) of which Lafranchis says in his France book that it flies in western Switzerland and could fly in France but does not include a page entry for it; however, in his ID book he says it does fly in Savoie in France; see the comments regarding eriphyle on 8180 below. Lafranchis says that the eriphyle uph spot in s4 is constant and distinctly larger than the others. This appears to hold true for the unh (although Lafranchis does not specifically state this) based on photos on authoritative websites such as Matt Rowlings' and Guy Padfield's, both of which also rather confirm that the s4 red spot is rather elongated.
The very scarce and localised Ratzer's Ringlet (E. christi) is cited in the books as occurring only around the Simplon Pass on the Switzerland/Italy border, but a UK expert once told me that it did occur in France. Like many butterfly things, sometimes an opinion is based on historical information of localities that have since disappeared, or maybe mistaken ID, maybe the maverick experts are sometimes right as they have knowledge not available to book authors, but in many cases I suspect no-one really knows for sure.
Lafranchis says melampus is widespread and abundant in Savoie and Haute-Savoie, but I have not found it so, although it was fairly common in the Valais in Switzerland. By 2006 I had only seen it in one place in France, then in 2007 and 2008 in a few places in Switzerland, and in 2009 I found it in several localities in France, but hardly abundant.
13088: a male, fairly typical with quite a wide upf red post-discal band and pin-prick ocelli in s3, 4 and 5. Altitude 1800m.
18706: a male, based on it's taking salts. The red post-discal band is narrower than 13088 which is typical melampus, and the interior edge is dentate, again not typical melampus. The uph red mark in s4 is quite clearly extended, perhaps a pointer to eriphyle, but the uph red spots are just too large for eriphyle and the pinprick ocelli tend to suggest not eriphyle also. It must be melampus, but some doubts remain. 18699 was part of the same colony. Altitude 1850m.
8180: a male, the rounded forewing margins being characteristic of melampus, even in my limited experience of this species. However, the inner edges of the upf post-discal series are quite dentate (I would say bullet-shaped), c.f. 13088, matching the T&L illustration of eriphyle, known to occur in Vaud. The unh of both melampus and eriphyle are very similar but T&L says the eriphyle unh red spots have no black centres, so 8180/8181 must be melampus on the strength of this and the wing shape. The shape of the upf red spots was just a diversion. The uph red markings are more definitive, especially in s4, but not sufficiently visible here. Altitude 1550m.
18699: the red post-discal spots look 100% match for melampus, in terms of size and location (s3 slightly displaced, s4 rather larger), plus the pinprick ocelli. Altitude 1850m.
8181: a male, the underside of 8180. This is quite reflective of 8180 and there are suggestions of eriphyle here, too. Altitude 1550m.
13088_male_Valais, Switzerland_17Jul08
8180_male_Vaud, Switzerland_19Jul07
8181_male_Vaud, Switzerland_19Jul07
