Parides erithalion
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Parides erithalion, the variable cattleheart, is a North and South American butterfly in the family Papilionidae. The species was first described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1836. The upperside of the wings is black with a row of red postmedian spots. The underside of the wings is also black with a row of pink and whitish spots.
In males of some subspecies the uppersides of the forewings have a large olivaceous-green patch from the inner margin forward, with a creamy-white spot, while hindwings have a band of three red spots. Fringe in both sexes is dotted with white. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇧🇿 Belize | |
| 2 | Podocarpus National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 3 | Lago de Yojoa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 4 | Cerro Azul Meámbar National Park | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 5 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Medellín | 🇨🇴 Colombia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Variable Cattleheart sighting in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 152nd most-seen of the 302 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–March, May and July–August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Variable Cattleheart in Arenal Volcano National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, June and September–December, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Variable Cattleheart sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Variable Cattleheart sightings, Arenal Volcano National Park ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary (Belize, about 30%), Podocarpus National Park (Ecuador, about 20%) and Lago de Yojoa (Honduras, about 10%).
Same genus: Parides
The closest relatives of the Variable Cattleheart that you can see in Arenal Volcano National Park (genus Parides, Cattlehearts) are Iphidamas Cattleheart (about 10%), Green-Celled Cattleheart (about 10%) and True Cattleheart (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Variable Cattleheart is recorded against all the insects logged in Arenal Volcano National Park (9 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
