The Spanish gatekeeper has quite a different underwing pattern with a prominent while band.

The southern gatekeeper, like many in subspecies Satyrinae, exhibits sexual dimorphism.

The male is smaller than the female, the front wing of the male is 15 to 16 mm whereas a female front wing is 20 mm, and has a patch of scent-producing scales known as the androconia, which can be seen as a dark patch on the upperside of the forewing.

The southern gatekeeper likes hot localities and is found in northern Africa and southern Europe; in Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Portugal, Spain including Mallorca and Menorca, south-eastern France, Corsica, Sardinia, Elba, Italy, Sicily, Croatia, Albania, Greece and Turkey.

Food plants are grasses including Deschampsia cespitosa