The map shows the only two known location for White-belted Ringtail in MTY to date: both were along the very easternmost edge of the county in August. This species occurs widely along sandy or gravel-bottomed streams in the arid foothills, valleys, and deserts of California. It likely occurs in such habitats elsewhere in MTY, especially late in the summer, but there are few such streams in MTY.

MTY dates so far are between 7–25 August. Elsewhere in California, this species has a flight season ranging from April to October (Manolis 2003).

The photos above compare White-belted Ringtail (above left) with Serpent Ringtail (above right) Erpetogomphus lampropeltis of the nominate subspecies (E. l. lampropeltis). This subspecies is quite different than Serpent Ringtails in the southwestern U.S. and Mexico. It occurs in the coastal mountains of southern California, where it is a field identification problem versus White-belted Ringtail. To date Serpent Ringtail is known in California only north to Santa Barbara County, but it is possible that this species might occur in the southern Santa Lucia Mountains of Monterey County where, to date, no ringtails have been found.

In comparing the two ringtails, note that White-belted usually has a much more conspicuous orange tip to the clubbed abdomen; the orange on Serpent Ringtail is typically darker and the top of abdomen segments 7-10 is much darker, almost blackish, on Serpent. There can be overlap at the extremes between the "tail" patterns of ringtails, so use that feature in connection with other features. For example, White-belted has much more white at the base of the abdomen, and the white and black abdominal rings are about equally dominant. On Serpent, the black abdominal rings are dominate.

The term "White-belted" refers to white 'belts' within the brown thoracic patches on White-belted Ringtail (below left). Note that the yellow patches on the thorax are separated by big brown patches, each of which has an internal white stripe (or 'belt'). On Serpent Ringtail (below right) the yellow patches are reduced, but the brown patches are much more prominent, with only a few small irregular white spots or dots internally. This is especially apparent on the anterior brown side patch. There are also difference in the amount of dark and white on the legs (as shown in the comparisons below), and the blue eyes of White-belted tend to be paler and purer blue than the gray-blue eyes of Serpent Ringtail. There are also differences in the male appendages (see Manolis 2003).