Sooty Ringlet (Erebia pluto (de Prunner - 1798))
Scientific name: Erebia pluto (de Prunner - 1798)
Common name: Sooty Ringlet
French name: Moiré velouté, Moiré des glaciers
Order: Lepidoptera
Suborder: Rhopalocera
Family: Nymphalidae
Subfamily: Satyrinae
Wingspan: 40-50mm.
Biotope: Stony and rocky slopes in high mountains (1800m up to 3000m).
Geographic area: Alps, centre of Italy, Yugoslavia.
Flight time: June-August.
Number of generations : 1
Caterpillar:
Host plant: Graminae, especially Annual Meadow-grass (Poa annua).
The Sooty Ringlet, one species of high mountains, can be classified in many sub-species.
It is usually dark coloured, males being darker than females.
You can identify each sub-species by its colour and by the presence or the lack of eyespots.
The oreas sub-species is the most brightly marked, it does no show any eyespot.

Sooty Ringlet (Erebia pluto) - Savoie, France - August 21st 2006
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Sooty Ringlet (Erebia pluto)
Unless I am wrong, the butterfly on this picture is Erebia pluto oreas. I took this picture in the Parc de la Vanoise at an altitude of about 2500 meters.

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