Code

Closed wings: male butterflies are light brown or cream coloured. There is an eyespot on the forewing and two dark brown spots. The hindwing has brown stretch at the bottom, which is broken in the centre. In parallel to the outer margin, there is another brown stretch that is darker than the rest of the wings and has small white dots, which cannot always be seen. The females forewing, is similar to the one on male butterflies, but the hindwing is greyish with a series of small white dots which cannot always be seen.

Open wings: This species practically never stretches its wings. Both sexes are brown with two eyespots and some oval white spots on the forewing. There is a white stretch on the hindwing. The spots on the females forewings are longer and wider than those on the hindwings.

Similar species

There are no species which can be confused with this one due to their peculiar patterns and colours.

Biology and Habitat

They fly from June to September, and mostly emerge in June and July.

The species lives in large areas of grassland, esparto fields and pastures, as well as in open areas in oak and pine forests, in less rugged mountains that are between 790 m and 1788 m high. Their caterpillars feed on grasses that belong to the Bromus and Festuca genera.

Distribution in the Great Path

The species is rather rare and limited to specific places in Málaga, such as the Serranía de Ronda and high mountains from the ranges of the Tejeda and Almijara. On the GMP, it is only present on stages 23 and 26, but it is bound to be found at specific places on the rest of the stages in the mountains. There is a possibility to find it on the stages in the Arco Calizo Central (No 11), where it has not been spotted yet, and the Almijara Mountains.