Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus): identification, range and life cycle

The Ringlet, Aphantopus hyperantus, is a dark brown grassland butterfly of the family Nymphalidae, named for the small ringed eyespots on its underside. It belongs to the genus Aphantopus and is one of the commoner browns of Europe and temperate Asia. The species ranges across most of Europe, though it is absent from northern Scandinavia, peninsular Italy, Portugal, southern and central Spain, the Mediterranean islands and North Africa, and continues through temperate Asia into Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, China and Korea.

Identification

Both sexes are a uniform, almost velvety chocolate brown above, with small, yellowish-rimmed eyespots whose number and size vary a great deal between individuals, sometimes disappearing from the upperside altogether. The underside carries the rings that give the butterfly its name, a row of dark eyespots on the hindwing, and these too are variable: in some individuals the rings elongate into teardrop shapes, while in others they are greatly reduced or missing entirely. Freshly emerged adults look almost black, with a delicate white fringe along the edge of the wings, a contrast that fades as the scales wear with age. The wingspan runs 42–52 mm, with males at the smaller end (42–48 mm) and females slightly larger (46–52 mm). Males and females look much alike; the only reliable mark is on the male, which carries a faint sex brand of scent scales on the forewing, used in courtship, a feature the female lacks.

Range and habitat

The Ringlet favours sheltered, damp, grassy or forest clearings with bushes nearby: woodland edges and rides, meadows, hedgerows, road verges and country lanes, and it generally avoids open grassland or heathland. The need for shelter and a touch of damp sets it apart from many of its grassland relatives, which push further into open, sun-baked turf. Across its range it is found from western Europe to Korea, dropping out only where winters or summers are most extreme, such as northern Scandinavia and the driest parts of the Mediterranean and North Africa. Within that range it is common across most of Europe, making it one of the more familiar brown butterflies of hedgerows and woodland edges through the summer months.

Life cycle and host plants

Caterpillars feed on grasses, including cock’s-foot, common couch, false brome, meadow-grasses and tufted hair-grass. The female lays in flight rather than on a chosen leaf: she scatters loose, non-adhesive eggs over the grass during a slow, low flight, rather than gluing them to a blade as many other grass-feeders do. The caterpillar is nocturnal, hiding by day at the base of a grass tussock and coming out at night to feed, and it passes through four moults before pupating. It overwinters as a third-instar caterpillar, sheltering through the cold but feeding again on mild winter evenings before growth resumes in spring. Pupation takes place in a flimsy silk cocoon standing upright at the base of a grass tussock, with the adult emerging after about two weeks. The species completes one generation a year.

Behaviour and flight period

In Britain the Ringlet is on the wing from late June to August, peaking in mid-July, in one comparatively short flight period. It is unusually tolerant of poor weather: its dark colouring warms quickly, making it one of the few butterflies that will fly on overcast days. Males patrol for mates rather than waiting at a perch, and are typically seen singly or in twos, fluttering low among the grasses. Adults feed mainly at bramble blossom, with Common Fleabane, Hemp-agrimony, thistles and Wild Marjoram as other favoured nectar sources.

Conservation

The species’ IUCN status is shown in the facts box, taken from its Wikidata record.

Similar species

• Meadow brown (Maniola jurtina): a similar dusky brown grassland butterfly that flies alongside the Ringlet across much of its range, but lacks the Ringlet’s neat ring-shaped eyespots and uniform velvety tone.
• Small heath (Coenonympha pamphilus): a smaller, paler grass-feeder found in similar open and grassy habitats, told apart from the Ringlet by its sandy-orange colour and single small eyespot on the forewing.