(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

The pupa is angular and brown, and hangs from a stem. It has a length of about 1 cm.

(Photo: courtesy of Dave Britton, Australian Museum)

The adult butterflies are brown, with an orange patch on each hind wing ending in an eyespot.

(Photo: courtesy of Nick Monaghan)

Underneath, the wings are brown, and each hind wing has two eyespots. The adult butterflies have a wingspan of about 4 cms.

egg
(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

The eggs are pale green and spherical. They are laid singly on foodplants.

The species may be found along the east coast of Australia, including

underside
(Specimen: courtesy of The Australian Museum)

There have been times when Hypocysta metirius , Hypocysta pseudirius , and Hypocysta adiante have been seen flying together. They are very difficult to tell apart in flight

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 482-483.

Arthur G. Butler,
Contributions towards a knowledge of the Rhopalocera of Australia,
Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
1875, Part 1, p. 3.

Kelvyn L. Dunn,
A further search for Hypocysta metirius (Butler 1875) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in Southern New South Wales,
Victorian Entomologist,
Volume 45, Part 1 (2016), pp. 13-19.

Wesley Jenkinson,
Life history notes on the Brown Ringlet, Hypocysta metirius (Butler, 1875) Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae,
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 78 (September 2015), pp. 16-18,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club.

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(updated 11 October 2012, 17 August 2017, 27 October 2020)