Sudetica takes its name from
the Sudeten Mts of the Czech Republic. Apparently it is more widespread in
the Carpathians (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania) than in
Western Europe but even here it is very local and not so easily found.
Away from the Carpathians it is found in one area of N Switzerland (Grindelwald)
and in France in Isere and western Massif Central. I've only found it in
Isere, once in each of the last 3 years. From these experiences I think it
flies rather in July than into August - the photo above was taken in the
first week of August when it was clearly already over even in the late
season of 2004.
It is extremely close to the Lesser Mountain Ringlet,
E. melampus which flies on nearby mountains in the Alps. Apparently
they never fly together. The distinguishing feature is supposed to be the
very evenly sized hindwing orange patches. That in space 4 is usually
larger in melampus, in the photo above the spots are regular.
Genetic studies of the butterflies of the mountain range I photographed
the above butterfly have also revealed the absence of melampus
here, which gives me greater confidence of my identification!
