Spanish brassy ringlet facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Spanish brassy ringlet |
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| E. hispania male (upper and underside) and female (underside) - | |
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Erebia
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E. hispania
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| Erebia hispania Butler, 1868
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The Spanish brassy ringlet (scientific name: Erebia hispania) is a special kind of butterfly. It belongs to the family Nymphalidae, which includes many beautiful butterflies. This butterfly is only found in the Sierra Nevada mountains in southern Spain.
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Spanish Brassy Ringlet
The Spanish brassy ringlet is a unique butterfly because it lives only in a specific mountain range. It was first described by a scientist named Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1868.
What Does It Look Like?
This butterfly has a wingspan of about 34 to 42 millimeters. That's roughly the size of a large coin. You can usually see adult Spanish brassy ringlets flying during the summer months, from July to August.
Where Does It Live?
The Spanish brassy ringlet calls the high mountains of the Sierra Nevada in southern Spain its home. This area has a special climate and plants that the butterfly needs to survive.
Life Cycle and Food
Like all butterflies, the Spanish brassy ringlet starts its life as a tiny egg. The young butterflies, called larvae (or caterpillars), hatch from these eggs. These caterpillars enjoy eating different kinds of grasses. One type of grass they particularly like is called Festuca. After growing big enough, the caterpillar will turn into a pupa, and then finally, an adult butterfly.
Related Butterflies
The Spanish brassy ringlet is part of a group of similar butterflies known as the "brassy ringlets." Scientists study these groups to understand how different species are related. For a long time, another butterfly from the Pyrenees mountains, called rondoui, was thought to be the same species as the Spanish brassy ringlet. However, recent scientific tests have shown that Erebia rondoui is actually a different species.
