Identifying features
Wingspan 28–42 mm. The wing upperside is brown and black, with white wing markings. The female typically has a few indistinct dark eye spots on each wing pair. The male is darker than the female and often lacks the eye spots. The underside is grey-brown in both sexes, with clear, yellow-ringed eye spots with a white center.
Similar species
No species are described in the species handbook. The booklet about scarce heath mentions that small specimens of ringlet, in flight, are similar to scarce heath.
Distribution
Europe and extending eastward to the Amur and Korea. Common on Southern Norway and Eastern Norway. On the West Coast, only known from a few locations, especially in the innermost fjords. Recently found in Meråker, in the inner part of Nord-Trøndelag.
Biology
The larva lives on many different types of grass. It is cigar-shaped, straw-coloured, with a brown dorsal line and a light lateral line, which is edged above with a wider brown line and below with a narrower one. It grows to 25 mm in length. The overwintering occurs as a larva. The pupa hangs low on a blade of grass, in a fragile cocoon.