Erebia is a Holarctic genus of brush-footed butterflies, family Nymphalidae. Most of the about 90–100 species (see also below) are dark brown or black in color, with reddish-brown to orange or more rarely yellowish wing blotches or bands. These usually bear black spots within, which sometimes have white center spots.
This genus has found it easy to adapt to arid and especially cold conditions. Most of its members are associated with high-altitude lands, forest clearings or high latitude and tundra. Erebia species are frequent in the Alps, Rocky Mountains, subarctic and even Arctic regions, and the cooler parts of Central Asia. In fact, the North American term for these butterflies is alpines. Palearctic species are collectively known as ringlets or arguses. However, none of these terms is used exclusively for this genus.
Taxonomy and systematics The genus Erebia was erected by Johan Wilhelm Dalman in 1816. As type species, the Arran brown—described as Papilio ligea by Carl Linnaeus in 1758—was chosen. This is a very complex genus with over 1300 taxa, but a massive proportion of these are junior synonyms. Some of the available names are listed by Vladimir Lukhtanov.Lukhtanov A fully comprehensive taxonomic checklist (i.e., without discussing synonymy and relationships) was published in 2008.Tennent (2008)
Only three years after the genus' inception, the known species were reviewed by Jacob Hübner.Hübner He established no less than five new genera for a fraction of what would eventually be named as "species" of Erebia. But things hardly improved as more and more of the diversity of these butterflies came to note. In Europe, a large number of Erebia taxa was described from the Alps. In the 19th and early 20th century the Alps were a popular destination for butterfly collectors and specimens of Alpine butterflies were very profitable for dealers. The dealers, mostly German, not only sold specimens, but were entomologists, entomological book dealers, entomological authors and publishers. Examples are Fritz Rühl, Alexander Heyne, Otto Staudinger, Andreas and Otto Bang-Haas and, in Paris, Achille and Émile Deyrolle.
This, together with the then-popular, even obsessive study of variation by entomologists – examples are James William Tutt, George Wheeler, Felix Bryk and Brisbane Charles Somerville Warren – led to very many names being applied to what may be or much more likely may not be biological species or subspecies. A further problem is the use of the term "variety". Authors of that time used this for an individual variant, a group of individuals morphologically but not otherwise related, seasonal forms, temperature-related forms, or geographic races; it was later usually taken to mean the last subspecies though this is often suspected to have been premature.
Eventually, it became common to arrange supposed species and subspecies to "species groups" (not superspecies, but an informal phenetic arrangement) as pioneered by B.C.S. Warren,Warren (1936) and attempt to resolve their true nature by and by. As molecular phylogenetic studies add to the available data, it is becoming clear that most "varieties" that have at least been commonly considered subspecies in the latter 20th century are indeed lineages distinct enough to warrant some formal degree of recognition. Another result of recent research is confirmation of the theory that this genus contains many glacial relict taxa, e.g., in the brassy ringlet group (E. tyndarus and similar species).Albre et al. (2008)
The number of currently recognized Erebia species is given variously around 90-100, as developments happen so fast that it is hard for authors to remain up to date regarding the newest changes.
Erebia, like some other genera of butterflies, has been known to consume blood.
Species list As of early 2008, the following good species and some rather distinct subspecies are listed:Brower (2006), Albre et al. (2008), and see Savela (2008) for more sources
Erebia aethiopella (Hoffmannsegg, 1806) – false Mnestra ringlet Erebia aethiops (Esper, 1777) – Scotch argus Erebia ajanensis Ménétriés, 1857 Erebia alberganus (Prunner, 1798) – almond ringlet or almond-eyed ringlet Erebia alcmena Grum-Grshimailo, 1891 Tibet, West China, Japan Grum-Grshimailo, G. Y. 1891 Lepidoptera nova in Asia centrali novissime lecta et descripta Horae Soc. ent. Ross. 25 (3-4) : 445-465 Erebia alini (Bang-Haas, 1937) (disputed) Manchuria Bang-Haas, 1938 Neubeschreibungen und Berichtigungen der Palaearaktischen Macrolepidoptera. XXXVI Int. Ent. Zs. 52 (22) : 177-180 Erebia anyuica Kurenzov, 1966 – scree alpine Erebia arctica R.Poppius, 1906 Kanin Peninsula, Arkhangelsk Region Poppius, K. R 1906 Acta Fauna & Fl. Fenn. 28 (3): 5 Erebia atramentaria O.Bang-Haas, 1927 China Bang-Haas, O. 1927 Horae Macrolepidopterologicae Regionis Palaearcticae 1 : 1-128, pl. 1-11 Erebia calcaria Lorković, 1949 – Lorkovic's brassy ringlet Erebia callias Edwards, 1871 Erebia (callias) altajana Staudinger, 1901 Erebia (callias) callias – Colorado alpine Erebia (callias) sibirica Staudinger, 1881 Erebia (callias) simulata Warren, 1933 Erebia cassioides (Reiner & Hohenwarth, 1792) – common brassy ringlet Erebia (cassioides) arvernensis Oberthür 1908 – western brassy ringlet Erebia (cassioides) carmenta Fruhstorfer, 1907 – western brassy ringlet Erebia (cassioides) macedonica Buresch, 1918 Erebia christi Rätzer, 1890 – Raetzer's ringlet Erebia claudina (Borkhausen, 1789) – white speck ringlet Erebia cyclopius (Eversmann, 1844) Erebia dabanensis Erschoff, 1871 Erebia disa (Thunberg, 1791) – Arctic ringlet or disa alpine Erebia discoidalis Kirby, 1837 – red-disked alpine Erebia dromulus Staudinger, 1901 Caucasus to North Iran, Turkey, ArmeniaStaudinger in Staudinger, O. & Rebel, H. 1901 Catalog der Lepidopteren des palaearktischen Faunengebiets. I. Famil. Papilionidae - Hepialidae 1 : 1-411 Erebia edda Ménétriés, 1851 Erebia embla (Thunberg, 1791) – Lapland ringlet Erebia epiphron (Knoch, 1783) – mountain ringlet or small mountain ringlet Erebia epipsodea Butler, 1868 – common alpine Erebia epistygne (Hübner, 1819) – spring ringlet Erebia erinnyn Warren, 1932 Sayan, Transbaikala Warren, G.. 1932 Notes on Erebiid species Ent. Rec. J. Var. 44 (12) : 165-167 Erebia eriphyle (Freyer, 1836) – eriphyle ringlet Erebia eugenia Churkin, 2000 Tian-Shan Churkin, S.V. 2000 New species of Erebia Dalman (Lepidoptera, Satyridae) from Tian-Shan Helios 1: 29-32 Erebia euryale (Esper, 1805) – large ringlet Erebia fasciata Butler, 1868 – banded alpine Erebia flavofasciata Heyne, 1895 – yellow-banded ringlet Erebia fletcheri Elwes, 1899 Erebia gorge (Esper, 1805) – silky ringlet Erebia gorgone – Gavarnie ringlet Erebia graucasica Jachontov, 1909 Caucasus Jachontov, A.A. 1909 [Notice sur les Lèpidoptères Rhopalocères du Caucase] Revue Russe Ent. 8 : 282-292 Erebia haberhaueri Staudinger, 1881 Kazakhstan Staudinger, O 1881 Beitrag zur Lepidopterenfauna Central-Asiens Stettin ent. Ztg 42 (7-9): 253-300, (10-12): 393-424 Erebia hewitsoni Lederer, 1864 Turkey, Iran, Transcausia, Armenia Lederer, J. 1864 Zur Lepidopteren-Fauna von Imeretien und Grusien Wien. ent. Monats. 8 (5) : 165-172, pl. 3 Erebia hispania Butler, 1868 – Spanish brassy ringlet Erebia inuitica Wyatt, 1966 (disputed) Wyatt, C.W., 1966 Eine neue Erebia-art aus Alaska Zs. Wiener ent. Ges. 51 (7) : 93-94 Erebia iranica Grum-Grshimailo, 1895 Erebia jeniseiensis Trybom, 1877 Erebia kalmuka Alphéraky, 1881 Tian-Shan Alphéraky, S. 1881 Lépidoptères du district de Kouldjà et des montagnes environnantes. (1-3) Horae Soc. ent. Ross. 16 (3-4): 334-435, pl. 14-15 (1881), 17 (1-2): 15-103, pl. 1-3 (1882), 17 (3-4): 156-227, pl. 8-9 (1883) Erebia kefersteinii (Eversmann, 1851) Erebia kindermanni Staudinger, 1881 Erebia kozhantshikovi Sheljuzhko, 1925 Transbaikalia, Chukot Peninsula, Mongolia Sheljuzhko, L.A. 1925 Neue Erebien aus Sibirien Ent. Anz. 5 (1): 1-3, (2): 9-10 Erebia lafontainei (Troubridge & Philip, 1983) – reddish alpine Erebia lefebvrei (Boisduval, ) – Lefèbvre's ringlet Erebia ligea (Linnaeus, 1758) – Arran brown Erebia mackinleyensis (Gunder, 1932) – Mt. McKinley alpine Erebia magdalena Strecker, 1880 – Magdalena alpine Erebia mancinus Doubleday, – taiga alpine Erebia manto ([Schiffermüller], 1775) – yellow-spotted ringlet Erebia maurisius Lukhtanov & Lukhtanov, 1994 (might be Erebia brimo (Böber, 1809)) Erebia medusa (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1975) – woodland ringlet Erebia medusa polaris Staudinger, 1871 – Arctic woodland ringlet Erebia melampus (Fuessli, 1775) – lesser mountain ringlet Erebia melancholica Herrich-Schäffer, Asia Minor, Caucasus, Transcaucasia Herrich-Schäffer, G.A.W. Systematische Bearbeitung der Schmetterlinge von Europa, zugleich als Text, Revision und Supplement zu J. Hübner's Sammlung europäischer Schmetterlinge, 1843 (-1855) Erebia melas (Herbst, 1796) – black ringlet Erebia meolans (Prunner, 1798) – Piedmont ringlet Erebia meta Staudinger, 1886 Erebia mopsos Staudinger, 1886 synonym of meta Erebia mnestra (Hübner, [1803-1804]) – Mnestra's ringlet Erebia montana (de Prunner, 1798) – marbled ringlet Erebia neoridas (Boisduval, ) – autumn ringlet Erebia neriene (Böber, 1809) Erebia niphonica Janson, 1877 Erebia nivalis Lorković & Lesse, 1954 – de Lesse's brassy ringlet Erebia occulta Roos & Kimmich, 1983 – Eskimo alpine Alaska, Siberia, Russian Far East Roos, P. & Kimmich, H.W. 1983 Eine neue Art der Erebia alberganus-Gruppe aus Nordkanada (Lep: Satyridae) Ent. Zs. 93 (6): 69-75 Erebia ocnus (Eversmann, 1843) Dzungarian Alatau, Tian-shan Eversmann, E. 1843 Quaedam lepidopterorum species novae in montibus Uralensibus et Altaicus habitantes nunc descriptae et depictae Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou 16 (3) : 535-553, pl. 7-10 Erebia oeme (Hübner, [1803-1804]) – bright-eyed ringlet Erebia orientalis Elwes, 1900 Bulgaria Elwes, H. J. 1900 On the Butterflies of Bulgaria Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1900 (2) : 183-206, pl. 4 Erebia ottomana Herrich-Schäffer, – Ottoman brassy ringlet Erebia (ottomana) benacensis Warren, 1933 Erebia palarica Chapman, 1905 – Chapman's ringlet Cantabria, Spain Chapman, T.A. 1905 On Erebia palarica, n. sp., and Erebia stygne; chiefly in regard to its association with E. evias, in Spain Trans. ent. Soc. Lond. 1905 (1) : 9-35, pl. 2-6 Erebia pandrose (Borkhausen, 1788) – dewy ringlet Erebia pawlowskii Ménétriés, 1859 – yellow-dotted alpine or Theano alpineBrock, Jim P. and K. Kaufman (2003). Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America. New York, NY:Houghton Mifflin. Erebia pharte (Hübner, [1803-1804]) – blind ringlet Erebia pluto (de Prunner, 1798) – sooty ringlet Erebia pawlowskii Ménétriés, 1859 – yellow-dotted alpine or Theano alpine Erebia progne Grum-Grshimailo, 1890 Pamir-Alay mountain system Grum-Grshimailo, G. 1890 Le Pamir et sa faune lépidoptérologique in Romanoff,Mém. Lép. 4 : 1-576, pl. A,1-21 Erebia pronoe (Esper, 1780) – water ringlet Erebia radians Staudinger, 1886 Trans-Alay Range, Tian-shan Staudinger, O. 1886 Centralasiatische Lepidopteren Stett. Ent. Ztg. 47 (4-6): 193-215, (7-9): 225-256 Erebia rhodopensis Nicholl, 1900 - Nicholl's ringlet Erebia rondoui Oberthür 1908 (previously in E. cassioides) Erebia rossii (Curtis, 1835) – Arctic–alpine or Ross's alpine Erebia rurigena (disputed) Tat-sien-lu [Sichuan, China] Leech, J.H. 1890. New species of Rhopalocera from China. Parts 1-4. Entomologist 23: 26–50; 81-83;109-114; 187–192. Erebia sachaensis Dubatolov, 1992 Russian Far East Dubatolov, A. A. 1992 New subspecies of Nymphalidae and Satyridae from Yakutia [in Russian] Vestn. Zool. 6 : 40-45 Erebia scipio Boisduval, 1832 – larche ringlet Erebia serotina Descimon & de Lesse, 1953 – Descimon's ringlet Pyrenees Descimon, N. H. et de Lesse, H., 1953. Découverte d' un nouvel Erebia dans les Hautes-Pyrénées. Rev. Fr Lépidoptérologie, 14: 119-1 22, pl. VI