Diaphania indica
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Diaphania indica, the cucumber moth or cotton caterpillar, is a widespread but mainly Old World moth species. It belongs to the grass moth family, and therein to the large subfamily Spilomelinae. This moth occurs in many tropical and subtropical regions outside the Americas, though it is native to southern Asia; it is occasionally a significant pest of cucurbits and some other plants.
This species was originally described by William Wilson Saunders in 1851 under the misspelled name Eudioptes indica (properly:Eudioptis), using specimens from Java. His syntypes are in the Hope Entomological Collections of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
The wingspan is about 30 mm. Adults have translucent whitish wings with broad dark brown borders. The body is whitish below, and brown on top of head and thorax as well as the end of the abdomen. There is a tuft of light brown "hairs" on the tip of the abdomen, vestigial in the male but well developed in the female. It is formed by long scales which are carried in a pocket on each side of the 7th abdominal segment, from where they can be everted to form the tufts. Unfertilized females are often seen sitting around with... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Namib-Naukluft National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 3 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jamshedpur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Vadodara | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Kathmandu | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 4 | Thiruvananthapuram | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Kolkata | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Dehradun | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Ahmedabad | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 9 | Kochi | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Cucumber Moth sighting in Beijing on a given day, based on 10 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 222nd most-seen of the 401 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Cucumber Moth in Beijing on a given day, against under 5% in October to July, the lowest months. Those are among Beijing's wettest months, with about 85 mm of rain a month against almost none in January.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cucumber Moth 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.
22nd of 26
Of the 26 cities where we can rate Cucumber Moth sightings, Beijing ranks 22nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Jamshedpur (India, about 30%), Vadodara (India, about 20%) and Kathmandu (Nepal, about 20%).
Same family: Crambidae
The closest relatives of the Cucumber Moth that you can see in Beijing (family Crambidae, Crambid Snout Moths) are Hawaiian Beet Webworm Moth (about 10%), Box Tree Moth (about 10%) and Rush Veneer (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cucumber Moth is recorded against all the insects logged in Beijing (10 verified sightings), 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.
