''Erebia calcaria'', or Lorkovic's brassy ringlet, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...

of the 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 have a red ...

. It is found in the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

. The species inhabits southern exposed slopes with alpine grassland interspersed with rocks.

Scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically ...

s without vegetation or only a few grass tussocks cannot serve as habitat.

Biology

The species is only active when the sun is shining. They fly close to the ground, visiting flowers from time to time and spend much of their time on rocks, resting. The female deposits her eggs on dry grass stalks, just above the ground. The caterpillars feed on ''

Nardus stricta ''Nardus'' is a genus of plants belonging to the grass family, containing the single species ''Nardus stricta'', known as matgrass. It is placed in its own tribe Nardeae within the subfamily Pooideae. The name derives from ancient Greek ' () from ...

'' and on various ''

Festuca ''Festuca'' (fescue) is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the grass family Poaceae (subfamily Pooideae). They are evergreen or herbaceous perennial tufted grasses with a height range of and a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on ever ...

'' and ''

Sesleria ''Sesleria'' is a genus of perennial plants in the grass family. The are native to Eurasia and North Africa. They are found in Albania, Austria, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Corsica, Czechoslovakia, East Aegean Islands, Fi ...

'' species.

References

Butterflies described in 1949 Erebia Butterflies of Europe {{Satyrini-stub