Erebia epiphron
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The small mountain ringlet or mountain ringlet (Erebia epiphron) is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in mountainous regions of southern and central Europe. Mountain areas of Albania, Andorra, Austria, Great Britain, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Yugoslavia (Serbia, Kosovo, Voivodina, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia).
It is Britain's only true alpine species of butterfly. The larva feeds on moor matgrass near bogs and springs and the nectar-feeding adult visits bilberry, tormentil and heath bedstraw. The pale cream eggs are laid singly, each female laying up to 70. The egg stage lasts two or three weeks.
The larva is green with a double dorsal and a single lateral white or yellowish line. The third instar larvae hibernate in grass tussocks. They emerge in the spring and recommence feeding. Some larvae spend two years in this stage, the result of a late spring and short summer restricting growth. Recorded larval food plants are Aira praecox (Czechoslovakia, Spain), Deschampsia cespitosa (Czechoslovakia... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 4 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mountain Ringlet sighting in Aigüestortes National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 190th most-seen of the 256 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and July
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Mountain Ringlet in Aigüestortes National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to May, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mountain Ringlet sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Mountain Ringlet sightings, Aigüestortes National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Mercantour National Park (France, about 30%) and Vanoise National Park (France, about 10%).
Same genus: Erebia
The closest relatives of the Mountain Ringlet that you can see in Aigüestortes National Park (genus Erebia, Alpines) are Piedmont Ringlet (about 40%), Autumn Ringlet (about 30%) and Bright Eyed Ringlet (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mountain Ringlet is recorded against all the insects logged in Aigüestortes National Park (8 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
