Ringlet Butterfly - Aphantopus hyperantus

Taxonomy

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Family: Nymphalidae

Subfamily: Satyrinae

Seen on the wing from June to the end of August, these are common butterflies of damp grassland, woodland clearings, hedgerows and scrubby wasteland. the picture on the left, taken in Wales, shows an underwing view.

The common name comes from the distinctive rings or eyespots on the hindwings. Forewings and hindwings are fringed with white.

Distribution

Found throughout Britain and Ireland but absent from northern Scotland, when freshly emerged Ringlets have dark brown (sometimes almost black) velvety wings that readily absorb warmth from sunlight; as a result, they are among the small minority of butterflies that can be seen on the wing on overcast days.

Elsewhere this butterfly can be seen in most of Europe except northern Scandinavia and southern parts of Portugal, Spain and Italy; its range extends across Asia to Japan.

Wherever there are brambles or Wild Privet along a woodland edge or a hedgerow, the Ringlet butterfly is attracted to the nectar in their flowers.

The specimens shown above and on the left were photographed in Cors Caron National Nature Reserve, in West Wales, where these butterflies are very common in summer.

Lifecycle

Ringlet eggs are laid among coarse grasses, and the larval foodplants include rank grasses such as Cock's-foot (Dactylis glomerata) and Common Couch (Elytrigia repens) as well as the various meadow-grasses (Poa species). Initially pale yellow, the eggs turn light brown before hatching in typically two to three weeks.

Ringlet larvae feed at night, and so to see them take a torch into rank grassland. They moult four times, and after the third moult the larvae hibernate, emerging to feed in winter only if the weather is unusually warm. In spring they resume feeding before pupating at the bases of tussocks of grass. After about two weeks the adult emerges from its chrysalis.

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