Parides montezuma
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Parides montezuma, the Montezuma's cattleheart, is a butterfly in the family Papilionidae. It is native to the Americas. The upperside of the wings is black, without a band and with one row of red crescents along the hindwing margin. The underside of the wings is almost the same as the upperside. A full description is provided by Rothschild, W. and Jordan, K. (1906)
P. montezuma is found in dry forests from Mexico to Costa Rica, occurring from sea level to 700 m (2,300 ft). It is rare in Costa Rica, being more common northward. It is not threatened. Aristolochia acanthophylla Aristolochia foetida – Jalisco Dutchman's pipe
Aristolochia grandiflora – pelican flower Aristolochia micrantha Aristolochia orbicularis Parides montezuma is a member of the ascanius species group ("Fringe-spots white. Hindwing with submarginal spots and usnally also diseal spots or dots, or a discal band; mostly with tail") A quadrate whitish spot in space 2 of the forewings is quite peculiar of the ascanius group
The members are Parides agavus (Drury, 1782) Parides alopius (Godman & Salvin, [1890]) Parides ascanius (Cramer, [1775]) Parides bunichus... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carara National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guadalajara | 🇲🇽 México |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Montezuma's Cattleheart sighting in Carara National Park on a given day, based on 27 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 6th most-seen of the 83 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July and October–December
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Montezuma's Cattleheart in Carara National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January and April–May, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Montezuma's Cattleheart 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 Carara National Park, in our data
Carara National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Montezuma's Cattleheart sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Parides
The closest relatives of the Montezuma's Cattleheart that you can see in Carara National Park (genus Parides, Cattlehearts) are Iphidamas Cattleheart (about 20%), Pink-Spotted Cattleheart (about 10%) and True Cattleheart (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Montezuma's Cattleheart is recorded against all the insects logged in Carara National Park (27 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.
