Mnestra's Ringlet (Erebia mnestra)
2024 photographs highlighted in yellow. Click on any photograph to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
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| 13231_male_Valais, Switzerland_19Jul08 | 31153_male_Valais, Switzerland_12Jul12 | 41884_male_Savoie_24Jul16 | 41885_male_Savoie_24Jul16 |
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| 41894_male_Savoie_24Jul16 | 41920_male_Savoie_24Jul16 | 22891_female_Valais, Switzerland_22Jul10 | 41925_male_Savoie_24Jul16 |
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| 13288_male_Valais, Switzerland_19Jul08 |
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A less common Erebia of the high altitudes, usually occurring above 1800m. I only saw it for the first time in 2008, in Switzerland, and until 2016 had not seen it in France, because my visits were principally to the southern French Alpes, and mnestra has a distribution principally in Savoie and Haute-Savoie. In 2016, in Savoie I came across it in several locations. |
It is a smaller Erebia
characterised by the strong and wide red upf and unf post-discal bands which have no
(or pinprick) ocelli in the male (the female has two small upf ocelli) or may have very small
ocelli according to H&R. The upf post-discal band is often smooth-edged in the male but can be rather jagged on the external edge, and the female seemed to be like this only more so. It seems that this might be strong identification characteristic. |
| ref | sex |
observations |
alt. m |
| 13231 | M |
a male, taking salts. There is not even a hint of an upf ocellus. |
2200 |
| 31153 | M | a male, posing obligingly to show the shape of the upperside red post-discal bands. | 2090 |
| 41884 | M | a male, with vestigial pin-prick ocelli. | 2010 |
| 41885 | M | a male, with two ocelli which, although small, can clearly be seen to have white pupils. | 2010 |
| 41894 | M | a male, with quite wide upf post-discal red bands and very vestigial ocelli in s5. | 2010 |
| 41920 | M | a male, with a rather jagged external edge to the upf red post-discal band, and ocelli in s4 and s5 that are blind but quite strong for this species. | 2010 |
| 22891 | F |
a female, showing two small pupilled ocelli. The red post-discal band is particularly jagged externally. |
2150 |
| 41925 | M | a male underside, the unh being almost completely plain brown and without a discernible discal line. | 2010 |
| 13288 | M |
a male, the unf red post-discal band extending across almost the whole surface. The unh is characteristically plain brown and unmarked. |
2200 |
13231_male_Valais, Switzerland_19Jul08
31153_male_Valais, Switzerland_12Jul12
22891_female_Valais, Switzerland_22Jul10
13288_male_Valais, Switzerland_19Jul08
