The Scotch Argus

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The Scotch Argus
Erebia aethiops.


	Scotch or Scots Argus or Northern brown Erebia aethiops Dealan donn. This is a mountain species of the genera Satyridae and although very common in the Alps and in Scandinavia, its very much just a Scottish butterfly within the UK, as its common name suggests. Its very dark chocolate colour with red/orange spots makes it quite easy to spot. Although they are smaller than most garden butterflys at about 1 ½ inches across. Its one of the few butterflys that will lay eggs in the dark. The eggs are laid singly on a leaf of Purple Moor Grass (Molinia caerulea). The larva which looks like a wee white slug, eats the base of the plant. In its last larval stage, the caterpillar will only eat at night! Naturalists apparently search for them by torch light).
	(Aricia artaxerxes) The caterpillar hibernates over the chilly Scottish winter to turn into a chrysalis about April. It metamorphoses to hatch out as the adult butterfly about 2-3 weeks later. Note that the Small mountain ringlet butterfly (Erebia epiphron) looks very similar. While the Northern or Scotch Brown Argus (Aricia artaxerxes) has a confusingly similar common name but is tiny; only about 1 inch across.		You are most likely to see them flying on a sunny day in flowery places near or in mixed woods. The male is darker than the female and easier to spot, as he harasses any flying insect in search of a mate. They are on the wing from July to about the end of August, when they are common in woodland clearings. They like damp areas with long grass and sparse trees on sunny hillocks with a few trees or on the edges of mixed woods. You can find them around Inverness (especially at Cullernie Woods near Culloden) and down the west coast of Scotland. There is also a well known habitat for them in Rannoch moor in Perthshire, and they can be found on some of the Scottish Islands too such as Scalpay, Skye and Raasay.