Coenonympha oedippus

• Subfamily: Satyrinae - Coenonymphini
• Wingspan: 34-40 mm
• Flight period: Jun - Lug
• Spread: Rare - Declining
• Host plants: Poaceae - Cyperaceae - Iris pseudacorus

Information

The Coenonympha oedippus also called False Ringlet is a butterfly belonging to the Nymphalidae family with a wingspan of 34 - 40 mm. It is found in Austria, Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Mongolia, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine. * It is extinct in Bulgaria, Switzerland and Slovakia, very endangered if not extinct in Germany. In Italy the species is restricted to a portion of the Po Valley which represents the southern limit of its range. The environmental matrix is ​​very fragmented and each population is isolated, but made up of a good number of individuals, often greater than 1000 units. **

Adults have rounded wings; the upper side of the wings, both front and rear, is dark brown almost black, the lower one is brown / orange, with black ocelli surrounded by a yellowish border and a dot of the same color in the center of the ocello, 3 ocelli on the front wing and 4 or 5 on the rear wing.
The females are larger than the males, with more developed ocelli and often visible also on the upper side of the hind wings.

It is in sharp decline because it is often linked to wetlands, which are increasingly subject to reclamation interventions. It inhabits low grassy swamps and reeds which are usually located close to the woods, creating a warm and humid environment. Butterflies fly very slowly and hardly ever colonize surrounding habitats.

Monovoltine, the adult flies between the end of June and the beginning of July. The larva overwinters and continues its development the following year. The eggs are laid one by one on the blades of grass of the host plants.

Host plants are those of the genus Carex and Iris (in particular Iris pseudacorus) but yes can also be found on Poa spp., Lolium spp., Deschampsia spp., Molinea caerulea. Juncacee (eg Schoenus nigricans) and Cyperaceae


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - European Fauna https://fauna-eu.org/
** http://www.iucn.it/
*** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/