www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Please could you identify these butterflies seen in Austria in September,
I think there might be four different ones as the spots on the wings are different in number on some!
Thank you
Osier Sue.

Does anybody know what these butterflies are
Thanks
osier sue

Sorry Sue - I didn't notice this post when you first made it. I have an idea for all of them and will post my conclusions when I'm not sitting on a bus!

I'd be interested to know what else you saw in Austria in September, too.

Guy

I'm umming and erring about the first and last pictures. I think they're Piedmont ringlets, Erebia meolans, the first being a well marked female and the last a male. This is an extremely variable butterfly - much more so than the books suggest. The other ones are water ringlets, Erebia pronoe. This too is variable but the underside is unmistakable. Where I live in Switzerland, the uppersides of the male in particular are very dark, with the apical ocelli almost invisible and often no orange at all. Yours show the more typical form, with obvious orange and ocelli.

Guy

Hello Guy

Many thanks for your reply which has been most helpful.
The other butterflies we saw in Seefeld were Chalk-Hill Blue, Small Heath, Clouded Yellow, Pale Clouded Yellow, and Small White.
Thanks again
Sue.

I would suggest Erebia aethiops for the first and last individual. A variable species as well. This would fit better with the late observation time as well, E. meolans is a rather early species.