Calliteara pudibunda
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
Calliteara pudibunda, the pale tussock, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The Dutch common name for the moth (Meriansborstel) comes from the butterfly and insect painter Maria Sibylla Merian. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is found in Asia and Europe.
Calliteara pudibunda is a pest of European beech forests (Fagus sylvatica). The mix of tree species impacts the moths; they react very sensitively to the occurrence of a small portion of spruce trees within beech stands.
The wingspan is 40–60 mm. Female: Forewing greyish white dusted with dark, and bearing dark wavy transverse lines edged with pure white on the inner side. Hindwing white with indication of a dark submarginal band. Male: Forewing olive grey with black median area and darker indistinct slightly wavy transverse lines in the marginal and basal areas. Hindwing greyish yellow, with a transverse band which is slightly more distinct than in the female, and sometimes forms an elbowed anal. Form juglandis Hübner is divergent in the male, being distinguished by a greyish-white head and thorax (in typical specimens this is... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 3 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 4 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 7 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 8 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kharkiv | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 2 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 6 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 7 | Cologne | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 8 | Stockholm | 🇸🇪 Sweden | |
| 9 | Hamburg | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 10 | Essen | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Pale Tussock Moth sighting in Biebrza National Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 52nd most-seen of the 97 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Pale Tussock Moth in Biebrza National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–April and June–October, the lowest months. December has too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pale Tussock Moth sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Pale Tussock Moth sightings, Biebrza National Park ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Snowdonia National Park (United Kingdom, about 30%).
Same family: Erebidae
The closest relatives of the Pale Tussock Moth that you can see in Biebrza National Park (family Erebidae, Underwing, Tiger, Tussock, and Allied Moths) are Spongy Moth (about 40%), White Ermine (about 20%) and Ruby Tiger Moth (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pale Tussock Moth is recorded against all the insects logged in Biebrza 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.
