Erebia medusa, the woodland ringlet, is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae of the family Nymphalidae.

[5] These butterflies prefer clearings, grassy and humid wastelands, damp grasslands and moors and sunny forest edges, at an elevation of 300–2,300 metres (980–7,550 ft) above sea level.

The caterpillars are about 20 millimeters long, light beige or pale green with a dark dorsal stripe.

In the reddish yellow macular distal band there are two larger white-centred black ocelli near the apex placed close together, being sometimes united.

In South Hungary, the Balcan, Caucasus, and Western Siberia : is said to occur occasionally in Central Europe as aberration.

Beneath like medusa, but deep black above, the forewing bearing ferruginous red black-dotted spots; in the Bavarian Alps, up to 3000 ft. — transiens Ruhl-Heyne [var.]

Stgr) comes nearer psodea; the ocelli are larger and more numerous than in medusa; the hindwing beneath more or less dusted with grey in the female; East Siberia.

It feeds on various grasses, as Panicum sanguinale, Millium effusum, etc., hibernates and changes the end of April into a light grey pupa, which lies on the ground in a loose web, the butterfly appearing in 4 weeks.

The species is on the wing from the end of May to early July, occurring in the woods in meadows and on grassy roads, in road-ditches, etc., the flight being slow but irregular and probing.

Caterpillars feed on Gramineae, Digitaria, Milium effusum, Panicum, Setaria, Brachypodium, Festuca and Bromus species.