Macrosoma heliconiaria
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Macrosoma heliconiaria is moth-like butterfly described by Achille Guenée in 1857. It belongs to the family Hedylidae. Originally it belonged to the genus Hedyle. Malcolm J. Scoble combined it with Macrosoma in 1986. The species displays characteristics of both moths and butterflies and is believed to be the closest living ancestor to modern butterflies. Adaptions to avoid bat predation have given the species ultrasonic hearing and night vision through superposition optics.
The species is recorded widely across the tropical South America: Colombia, Venezuela, French Guiana, across Brazil to Belém at the mouth of the Amazon; south to the mid-west of Peru. The wings are greyish brown in color. Forewing has white triangle on the costa. Hindwing is narrow translucent in the central area. The length of forewing can be 17–19 mm.
Following are the characteristics of the male genitalia: Uncus is not notched in lateral view. Gnathos has short, truncated lateral members. The apex of the Valva is narrow with prominent inner lobe. The female genitalia has the following features:
The anal papillae is pointed... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Macrosoma heliconiaria sighting in Braulio Carrillo National Park on a given day, based on 16 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 139th most-seen of the 378 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and February
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Macrosoma heliconiaria in Braulio Carrillo National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April and July–November, the lowest months.
Between midnight and 3 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Macrosoma heliconiaria sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
Only Braulio Carrillo National Park, in our data
Braulio Carrillo National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Macrosoma heliconiaria sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Lepidoptera
The closest relatives of the Macrosoma heliconiaria that you can see in Braulio Carrillo National Park (order Lepidoptera, Butterflies and Moths) are Banded Peacock (about 40%), Walker's Moth (about 40%) and Red-Washed Satyr (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Macrosoma heliconiaria is recorded against all the insects logged in Braulio Carrillo National Park (16 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.
