Bug FAQRinglet
Aphantopus hyperantus · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Nymphalidae
Also called: The Ringlet, Ringlet Butterfly
The ringlet butterfly has solid brown wings with small yellow-rimmed eyespots and a velvety almost-black look with a white fringe when it first emerges. It lives in grassy forest clearings, especially where thistles, oregano, forest scabious or hogweed grow, and flies from mid-June to late August.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The upper and lower wing surfaces are solid brown with small eyespots rimmed in yellow. Newly emerged adults look almost black with a velvety texture and a white fringe on the wings.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults have a wingspan of 35 to 42 mm. Caterpillars grow to about 25 mm in length.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They prefer moist or dry forest clearings with bushes, not open areas. They are common where creeping thistles, swamp thistles, oregano, forest scabious or hogweed grow, which are favorite food plants for the adults.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Caterpillars feed on a variety of grasses. Males fly low, fluttering among grass stems while searching for newly hatched females.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The larva molts four times before pupating.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults are on the wing from mid-June through late August, producing a single brood each year.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
The ringlet is widespread across much of the Palearctic region. In Europe it occurs in most countries but is absent from northern Scandinavia, peninsular Italy, Portugal, much of Spain, the Mediterranean islands and North Africa.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It belongs to the Satyrini tribe, which includes many other “ringlet” butterflies that look similar.
Source: Wikipedia
More photos
Questions people ask
Where does the ringlet live?
In grassy forest clearings with bushes, especially where thistles, oregano, forest scabious or hogweed grow.
Source: Wikipedia
How big is a ringlet butterfly?
The adult’s wingspan is 35 to 42 mm; the caterpillar is about 25 mm long.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Nymphalidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringlet
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.