These are found in taiga and alpine habitat across Eurasia, with one population in comparatively recent times colonizing North America.

The brassy ringlet group, like many Erebia, has a complicated taxonomy, with scores of "variants" having been named in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The view that only a single species of this non-migratory butterfly with restricted habitat preferences occurs in far-flung localities like the Sierra Nevada of southern Spain or the Julian Alps of Slovenia is generally considered obsolete.

A darker band arches between the forward and back margins of the hindwing, which has a prominent silvery sheen also found in closely related species of Erebia and conspicuous at a distance when these butterflies fly around in the sun.

The adults fly only for a brief time during summer, mainly in July and August, feeding on nectar of the preferred yellow mountain flowers.

[2] This species can be found in the Alps of France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, in Austrian Vorarlberg, and adjacent regions.