The Arctic ringlet or Disa alpine (''Erebia disa'') is a member of the subfamily

Satyrinae The Satyrinae, the satyrines or satyrids, commonly known as the browns, are a subfamily of the Nymphalidae (brush-footed butterflies). They were formerly considered a distinct family, Satyridae. This group contains nearly half of the known divers ...

of family

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species ha ...

. It is associated with wet

muskeg Muskeg (; ; , lit. ''moss bog'') is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal ecosystem, boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bogland, bog or peatland, and is a standard te ...

and bogs in subarctic and Arctic climates, and is often found near the tree-line. The larva overwinters twice before undergoing

metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth transformation or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and different ...

into an adult. It is found in Arctic Europe, Arctic European Russia (Kanin Peninsula), Sajan, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, Yablonoi and Arctic North America.

Description

The upperside of the wings are dark brown with a fine black and white hashed line along the hind margins. The forewing has a red or orange strip fairly near the edge on which are four black blotches with white-centred eyespots. The hindwing is plain brown. The underside of the forewing is similar to the upperside while the underside of the hindwing is greyish brown with a broad dark brown lateral band and a hashed black and white margin. The wingspan is . Species with which this butterfly could be confused include the Lapland ringlet (''Erebia embla'') and the

Arran brown ''Erebia ligea'', the Arran brown, is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae of the family Nymphalidae. This brown is widespread in south-eastern and northern Europe. It prefers mixed woodlands at low altitudes. It is rarely seen in open areas. Th ...

(''Erebia ligea''), but these both have white markings on the undersides of their hindwings.

Distribution and habitat

The Arctic ringlet has a

Holarctic The Holarctic realm is a biogeographic realm that comprises the majority of habitats found throughout the continents in the Northern Hemisphere. It corresponds to the floristic Boreal Kingdom. It includes both the Nearctic zoogeographical reg ...

distribution. It is found in Arctic Europe, Arctic European Russia (Kanin Peninsula), Sajan, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, Yablonoi and Arctic North America. Its typical habitat is bogs and damp forests.

Life cycle

The food plants of the

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e are various species of

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

es (Poaceae),

cottongrass ''Eriophorum'' (cottongrass, cotton-grass or cottonsedge) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cyperaceae, the sedge family. They are found in the cool temperate, alpine, and Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, primarily in the mi ...

es (''Eriophorum'') and sedges (''

Carex ''Carex'' is a vast genus of over 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family (biology), family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of ge ...

''). The larva overwinters twice as a caterpillar and the adult generally flies in July.

References

*Bolotov I.N. 2012. The Fauna and Ecology of Butterflies (Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera) of the Kanin Peninsula and Kolguev Island. - ''Entomological Review'' 92(3): 296-304. DOI 10.1134/S0013873812030062

External links

CBIF
Disa Alpine Canadian site {{Taxonbar, from=Q1823106 Erebia Insects of the Arctic Butterflies of Europe Butterflies of Asia Butterflies of North America Butterflies described in 1791 Taxa named by Carl Peter Thunberg