Wittia sororcula
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Wittia sororcula, the orange footman, is a species of moth in the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is found in Europe, Anatolia and further east across the Palearctic to southern Siberia and the Amur basin to China.
The wingspan is 27–30 millimetres (1.1–1.2 in). Forewing with the costa strongly convex and therefore the apical portion of the forewing considerably broader than in the forms of the luterella group. Head, thorax, end of abdomen and the forewing bright golden yellow, the hindwing of male but little paler; in the female both wings slightly paler orange yellow. In contradistinction to lutarella, the costal area of the hindwing above and beneath is never black.
The orange footman was previously placed in the genus Eilema, but was transferred to the genus Wittia by Vladimir Viktorovitch Dubatolov in 2011. Wittia sororcula sororcula Wittia sororcula orientis (Daniel, 1954) The moth flies from April to June depending on the location. Larva blackish, with two yellow dorsal stripes with red dots and white spots. The... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porto | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 2 | Essen | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Nizhny Novgorod | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 4 | Paris | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 6 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 7 | Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 8 | Barcelona | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Vienna | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 10 | Prague | 🇨🇿 Czechia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Orange Footman sighting in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 288th most-seen of the 1115 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.
May
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Orange Footman in Bavarian Forest National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July to March, the lowest months.
Between 10 pm and 1 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Orange Footman sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
Among the best
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Orange Footman sightings, Bavarian Forest National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Cévennes National Park (France, about 10%).
Same family: Erebidae
The closest relatives of the Orange 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 Orange Footman is recorded against all the insects logged in Bavarian Forest National Park (17 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.
