Piedmont ringlet facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Piedmont ringlet
As Erebia stygne (Langham and Wheeler collection - Ulster Museum)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Erebia
Species:	E. meolans
Binomial name
Erebia meolans (De Prunner, 1798)
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The Piedmont ringlet (Erebia meolans) is a type of butterfly. It belongs to the Nymphalidae family, which includes many well-known butterflies like monarchs and painted ladies. This butterfly lives in the Alpine regions of Europe.

About the Piedmont Ringlet

The Piedmont ringlet is a medium-sized butterfly. Its wings are usually a dark black-brown color. On its front wings, it has a reddish-brown band. This band is wider near the top of the wing and gets narrower towards the bottom.

Wing Markings

On the reddish-brown band of the front wing, you can often see two black spots. These spots have a small white dot in their center, like tiny eyes. Sometimes, there's another smaller spot closer to the bottom of the wing.

The back wings also have these "eyespots." They usually have three or four black spots with white centers, surrounded by a brown edge. The underside of the wings looks similar to the top, but the colors might be a bit lighter.

Where Do They Live?

The Piedmont ringlet butterfly lives in many mountain areas across Europe. You can find them in places like the Black Forest and Thuringian Forest in Germany, the Jura Mountains, the Alps, the Vosges Mountains, the Pyrenees, and the Apennines. They also extend eastward into Armenia.

These butterflies can be seen flying from June to July. They often live in areas below 3,000 feet (about 900 meters) but usually don't go above the tree-line in the mountains.

Images for kids

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  A male Piedmont ringlet butterfly.

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  The upper side of a Piedmont ringlet's wings.