[2] Mountain areas of Albania, Andorra, Austria, Great Britain, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Yugoslavia (Serbia, Kosovo, Voivodina, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia).

The larva feeds on moor matgrass near bogs and springs and the nectar-feeding adult visits bilberry, tormentil and heath bedstraw.

Some larvae spend two years in this stage, the result of a late spring and short summer restricting growth.

The black dots decrease in size and in number until they, together with the tawny marking, entirely disappear, and a plain blackish-brown insect only remains.

Wheeler (1903) gives a short description [5] "The egg when first laid, is yellow, changing afterwards to fawn color with darker markings, especially towards the top.

Feeds in July and after hibernation on various grasses, among which Poa annua, Festuca ovina, Aira praecox, and A. caespitosa have been specified as eaten by caterpillars in confinement.

The chrysalis is described by Buckler as being "little more than three-eighths of an inch in length, rather thick in proportion, being less dumpy in form than hyperanthtis, but more so than blandina [Erebia cethiops].

The eye-, trunk-, antenna-, and leg-cases are margined with dark brown, and the wing nervures are indicated by the same colors."