Xyphosia miliaria
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Xyphosia miliaria is a species of tephritid or fruit flies in the family Tephritidae. This species is present in most of Europe, in the eastern Palearctic realm, and in the Near East. This species occurs in wet meadows, in parks and gardens with the presence of thistles.
Xyphosia miliaria may have a body length of 5–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) and a wingspan of 15–18 mm (0.6–0.7 in) The thorax and the abdomen are yellowish, sparsely covered with long bristles and the mesonotum is longer than wide. The abdomen is round in males, elongated in the females and the females bear at the end of the abdomen a dark brown, pointed ovipositor. The large compound eyes are orange-red. The wings are decorated with distinctive dark apical and transversal drawings.
The adults fly from May to September feeding on nectar and pollen of various flowering plants. Larvae develop on buds of thistles (Carduus nutans, Cirsium arvense, Cirsium palustre, Cirsium eriophorum). Merz, B. - Faunistics of the Tephritidae of the Iberian Peninsula and the Baleares in Mitt. Schweiz. Entomol. Ges.
Norrbom, A. L., Carroll, L. E., Thompson... 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 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 2 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Amsterdam | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 4 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Moscow | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 6 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 7 | Saint Petersburg | 🇷🇺 Russia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mottled Thistle Fly sighting in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 727th 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 to August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mottled Thistle Fly in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to May, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mottled Thistle Fly sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
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 Mottled Thistle Fly sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Diptera
The closest relatives of the Mottled Thistle Fly that you can see in Bavarian Forest National Park (order Diptera, Flies) are Common Drone Fly (about 20%), Marmalade Hover Fly (about 20%) and Yellow-Haired Sun Fly (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mottled Thistle Fly is recorded against all the insects logged in Bavarian Forest National Park (7 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.
