Cybosia mesomella
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Cybosia is a monotypic genus of moth in the subfamily Arctiinae erected by Jacob Hübner in 1819. Its only species, Cybosia mesomella, the four-dotted footman, was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
Cybosia mesomella f. flava (yellow) Cybosia mesomella f. albescens (ivory colored) The wingspan is 25–33 mm. The basic colour of the forewings may be yellow or ivory greyish with yellow borders. The forewings show in the middle four small black dots (hence the common name of this species). The hindwings are grey, sometimes with yellowish edges. The thorax and the abdomen are whitish, covered with fine hairs.
This species has one generation per year. Females lay eggs in early July on the larval food plants. The eggs hatch in August or early September. The larvae overwinter and pupate the following spring, from May up to the beginning of June. The moths fly at dusk from June to mid-August depending on location. The larvae feed mainly after dark on low vegetation such as heather, willows, Leontodon autumnalis and Vaccinium uliginosum. They are lichen and algae feeders like most other lithosiines. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moscow | 🇷🇺 Russia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Four-Dotted Footman sighting in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 822nd most-seen of the 1115 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and July
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Four-Dotted Footman in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to May, the lowest months.
Between 9 pm and midnight
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Four-Dotted Footman sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
Only Bavarian Forest National Park, in our data
Bavarian Forest National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Four-Dotted Footman sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Erebidae
The closest relatives of the Four-Dotted Footman that you can see in Bavarian Forest National Park (family Erebidae, Underwing, Tiger, Tussock, and Allied Moths) are Burnet Companion (about 20%), Jersey Tiger (about 20%) and Pale Tussock Moth (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Four-Dotted Footman is recorded against all the insects logged in Bavarian Forest National Park (6 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.
