White speck ringlet facts for kids

Quick facts for kids White speck ringlet
As E. arete, a junior homonym of the valid name. From the Langham and Wheeler collection at the Ulster Museum.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Erebia
Species:	E. claudina
Binomial name
Erebia claudina (Borkhausen, 1780)
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The white speck ringlet (Erebia claudina) is a special butterfly that lives high up in the mountains. It's part of the Satyrinae subfamily, which belongs to the Nymphalidae family. This butterfly is quite rare because it's found only in the Austrian Alps.

About the White Speck Ringlet

The white speck ringlet is a small to medium-sized butterfly. Its wingspan is usually between 26 and 32 millimeters. That's about the length of two small paperclips!

What Does It Look Like?

A white speck ringlet butterfly.

This butterfly has deep dark brown front wings. There's a reddish-brown band across them. This band has two small spots in the middle, which are white. These white spots are usually easier to see on the underside of the male butterfly's wings.

The hindwings (back wings) might not have this brown band. Instead, they might just have small brown spots. You can also see 4 to 5 small white dots near the edge of the hindwings. These dots are often hard to see on males but are quite clear on females.

The underside of the male's front wing is a dull reddish-brown. The edges are black-brown. For females, the edges of the front wing and the hindwing are a greenish-grey color. The fringes (tiny hairs on the wing edges) are slightly lighter than the wing color. They are yellowish-grey in females. The antennae are black on top and whitish underneath.

Where Does It Live?

The white speck ringlet butterfly is an alpine species. This means it lives in high mountain areas. It can only be found in the Austrian Alps, specifically in places like Carinthia and Salzburg. It flies during July and August.

Life Cycle and Food

Like all butterflies, the white speck ringlet goes through different life stages. It starts as an egg. The eggs are round and white.

After about 11 days, the eggs hatch into larvae, which are also called caterpillars. These caterpillars are light green and have six dark lines running along their bodies.

The caterpillars of the white speck ringlet butterfly eat specific plants. Their favorite foods include Nardus stricta, Deschampsia cespitosa, and Poa trivalis. These plants help them grow big and strong before they turn into butterflies.