Erebia oeme

Bright-eyed Ringlet (Erebia oeme)

2023 photographs highlighted in green. Click on any photograph to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.


43633_male_Lozère_01Jul17	43949_male_Hautes-Pyrénées_08Jul17	44054_male_Hautes-Pyrénées_09Jul17	8233_male_Vaud, Switzerland_20Jul07

51235_male_Pyrénées-Orientales_5Jul23	51273_male_Pyrénées-Orientales_5Jul23	38420_female_Lozère_12Jul15	46165_pair_Lozère_30Jun19

44002_male_Hautes-Pyrénées_08Jul17	38422_female_Lozère_12Jul15	38637_female?_Pyrénées-Orientales_17Jul15

Some forms of Oeme have very characteristic white-pupilled ocelli especially in the upf s4 and s5, although I suspect it gets its name from the distinctive unh ocelli with clear white pupils - H&R describes these white pupils as "conspicuously brilliant". The ocelli of the female are larger and brighter on both surfaces. The subspecies spodia from the eastern Alpes and the Balkans has very large and bright ocelli, but unfortunately the Bright-eyed name is a often a misnomer for the nominate oeme, at least when viewed from the upperside (e.g. 43633). I had previously believed spodia occurred in the Pyrénées on the grounds that the ocelli, especially the on the unh, were exceptionally large and bright (e.g. 38637), but this appears simply to be a variation of the nominate species. I can find no reference to a specific Pyrénéan subspecies or form.

The underside could be confused with the Woodland Ringlet (E. medusa) although medusa has four unh ocelli to oeme's five (arranged evenly), and the underside of the oeme antennal club is black (brown in medusa). Oeme is generally an altitude species, while medusa's range is from sea level to as high as 1800m, although it appears that their distributions do overlap in some areas.

In some populations oeme can have very small ocelli, even blind (with no white pupils) which can lead to confusion in identification, especially with the Yellow-spotted Ringlet (E. manto), although my feeling is that if oeme ocelli are blind, they are still quite large i.e. not pinpricks, and that the surrounding red post-discal bands hug the ocelli quite closely, compared with manto where the red bands can be quite wide. 18845 on the manto page is an example.

It should also be noted that some individuals of the Almond-eyed Ringlet (E. alberganus) can have quite bright pupils in red spots that are quite rounded and decidedly not lanceolate and, as such, can look very much like oeme. However, oeme does not have a upf ocellus in s2 (at least, not the males) whereas alberganus does.

ref	sex	observations	alt. m
43633	M	a male, posing in overcast conditions with open wings to maximise the heat absorption. I did have some slight doubts about the uph red spot in s4 being rather larger than the others, which may have been an indication of manto. However, on checking the Lafranchis distribution maps, manto does not occur in Lozère and oeme only occurs in limited areas, but they did include the location where 43633 was seen.	1540
43949	M	*a very dark oeme, with particularly small red post-discal marks, but oeme* it must be as there are no other viable options.**	2070
44054	M	a female, contrast the size of the ocelli with the male 43633.	1780
8233	M	*a rather worn male, which I believe to be oeme.*	1440
51235	M		1820
51273	M		1820
38420	F	a female, with ocelli, especially the unh, rather brighter than the male in 8233.	1540
46165	PAIR	*a mating pair, female above. The female appears very fresh and is very typical of nominate oeme. The brown colour of the female contrasts with the darker colour of the male below.*	1340
44002	M	a fresh male, very dark and with a rather velvety appearance. The unh ocelli pupils are very bright. There is always a grass stem in the way - Erebia species have a habit of settling low in the grass - but trying to move the grass when this close to the subject would mean the shot is lost.	2070
38422	F	*a female, with ocelli probably about average for oeme.*	1540
38637	F	a female from the eastern Pyrénées with exceptionally large and bright unh ocelli.	1820