Arctic ringlet

Last updated

Arctic ringlet
Erdisa.jpg
From the Langham collection at the Ulster Museum
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Erebia
Species:
E. disa
Binomial name
Erebia disa
(Thunberg, 1791)

The Arctic ringlet or Disa alpine (Erebia disa) is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae of family Nymphalidae. It is associated with wet muskeg and bogs in subarctic and Arctic climates, and is often found near the tree-line. The larva overwinters twice before undergoing metamorphosis into an adult. It is found in Arctic Europe, Arctic European Russia (Kanin Peninsula), Sajan, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, Yablonoi and Arctic North America.

Contents

Description

The upperside of the wings are dark brown with a fine black and white hashed line along the hind margins. The forewing has a red or orange strip fairly near the edge on which are four black blotches with white-centred eyespots. The hindwing is plain brown. The underside of the forewing is similar to the upperside while the underside of the hindwing is greyish brown with a broad dark brown lateral band and a hashed black and white margin. The wingspan is 40 to 50 mm (1.6 to 2.0 in). Species with which this butterfly could be confused include the Lapland ringlet (Erebia embla) and the Arran brown (Erebia ligea), but these both have white markings on the undersides of their hindwings. [1]

Distribution and habitat

The Arctic ringlet has a Holarctic distribution. It is found in Arctic Europe, Arctic European Russia (Kanin Peninsula), Sajan, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, Yablonoi and Arctic North America. Its typical habitat is bogs and damp forests. [1]

Life cycle

The food plants of the larvae are various species of grasses (Poaceae), cottongrasses (Eriophorum) and sedges ( Carex ). The larva overwinters twice as a caterpillar and the adult generally flies in July. [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Erebia</i> Genus of insects (brush-footed butterflies)

Erebia is a Holarctic genus of brush-footed butterflies, family Nymphalidae. Most of the about 90–100 species are dark brown or black in color, with reddish-brown to orange or more rarely yellowish wing blotches or bands. These usually bear black spots within, which sometimes have white center spots.

<i>Erebia euryale</i> Species of butterfly

Erebia euryale, the large ringlet, is a species of butterfly belonging to the family Nymphalidae.

<i>Erebia ligea</i> Species of butterfly

Erebia ligea, the Arran brown, is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae of the family Nymphalidae. This brown is widespread in south-eastern and northern Europe. It prefers mixed woodlands at low altitudes. It is rarely seen in open areas. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, and the type locality is Sweden.

<i>Erebia medusa</i> Species of butterfly

Erebia medusa, the woodland ringlet, is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae of the family Nymphalidae.

<i>Erebia tyndarus</i> Species of butterfly

Erebia tyndarus, the Swiss brassy ringlet, is a European brush-footed butterfly species of the subfamily Satyrinae.

<i>Colias palaeno</i> Species of butterfly

Colias palaeno, known by the common names moorland clouded yellow, palaeno sulphur, and pale Arctic clouded yellow, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piedmont ringlet</span> Species of butterfly

The Piedmont ringlet is a member of the family Nymphalidae. It is an Alpine butterfly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marbled ringlet</span> Species of butterfly

The marbled ringlet is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae of the family Nymphalidae.

de Prunners ringlet Species of butterfly

The de Prunner's ringlet is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae of the family Nymphalidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black ringlet</span> Species of butterfly

The black ringlet is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae of the family Nymphalidae. It is a high-altitude butterfly found in Albania, former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water ringlet</span> Species of butterfly

The water ringlet is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae of family Nymphalidae. It is a high altitude butterfly found in the Alps, Bavaria, Styria, Pyrenees, Carpathians and Bulgaria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brassy ringlet</span> Species of butterfly

The brassy ringlets are a species group of ringlet butterflies in the genus Erebia. Though closely related, their monophyly is not completely resolved. Still, the brassy ringlets are taxa similar to E. tyndarus – the Swiss brassy ringlet –, and in many cases certainly close relatives. A notable trait of their genus is an ability to adapt well to cold and somewhat arid habitat, like taiga or regions with alpine climate. Optimal habitat in Eurasia, where most of the brassy ringlets are found, therefore occurs in two distinct belts – in the very north of the continent and in the Alpide belt – in interglacials, and in glacials in one periglacialic belt at lower altitude, in places interrupted by dry wasteland and deserts.

<i>Boloria bellona</i> Species of butterfly

Boloria bellona, the meadow fritillary, is a North American butterfly in the brushfoot family, Nymphalidae. The common name, meadow fritillary, is also used for a European butterfly species, Melitaea parthenoides.

<i>Erebia pandrose</i> Species of butterfly

Erebia pandrose, the dewy ringlet, is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae of the family Nymphalidae. It is found from the Arctic areas of northern Europe, the Pyrenees, Alps, the Apennine Mountains, the Carpathian Mountains, Kola Peninsula and Kanin Peninsula, part of the Ural and the Altai and Sayan Mountains up to Mongolia.

<i>Erebia melampus</i> Species of butterfly

Erebia melampus, the lesser mountain ringlet, is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae of the family Nymphalidae.

<i>Erebia callias</i> Species of butterfly

Erebia callias, the Colorado alpine, is a member of the Satyridae subfamily of the Nymphalidae butterflies. It is found in alpine areas of Wyoming and Colorado in the U.S. Rocky Mountains as well as various mountain ranges in eastern Asia.

Erebia polaris, the Arctic woodland ringlet, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Lapland and boreal Asia. The habitat consists of damp grasslands, but this butterfly also occurs on dry grasslands and in waste places, often where shelter is provided by birches or juniper bushes.

<i>Erebia discoidalis</i> Species of butterfly

Erebia discoidalis, the red-disked alpine, is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae of family Nymphalidae. It is found in North America from eastern Quebec, through northern Ontario, and the northern Prairies to northern British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Alaska. It reaches just into the northern U.S. between Michigan and Montana, and also occurs in Asia, where it has been recorded from the Chukot Peninsula to the eastern Sayan Mountains and Amur. The habitat consists of large, open, grassy bogs and other areas with acidic soils.

<i>Erebia dabanensis</i> Species of butterfly

Erebia dabanensis is a small butterfly found in the East Palearctic that belongs to the browns family.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Arctic Ringlet: Erebia disa". NatureGate. Retrieved 2013-12-19.