Hamadryas feronia
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
Hamadryas feronia, the blue cracker or variable cracker, is a species of cracker butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in the southern parts of North America and South America and southwards Brazil. Hamadryas feronia is similar in appearance to Hamadryas guatemalena and Hamadryas iphthime. The upperside of the fore wing is a mosaic pattern of white, brown and bluish-grey, with a row of small eyespots parallel with the outer margin; a small red bar occupies the discal cell. The upperside of the hind wing is similar but has few white patches and larger more distinct eyespots. The underside of the fore wing is white or whitish-tan with dark markings, a small red bar and a black submarginal eyespot, and the under hind wing is white or whitish-tan, with dark markings and blue rings containing larger eyespots near the rear margin.
The larva has two colour morphs; it is either bluish-black above with brownish-white speckles and reddish spots on the side, or it is greyish-green with a pale-coloured longitudinal line on the side. It has dorsal spines on the second and third thoracic segments and on the seventh and eighth abdominal segments. The pupa has two long... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rincón de la Vieja National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Lago de Yojoa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 3 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 4 | Parque Natural Metropolitano | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 5 | Tijuca National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Variable Cracker sighting in Belo Horizonte on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 85th most-seen of the 186 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and May–September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Variable Cracker in Belo Horizonte on a given day, against under 5% in March–April and October–January, the lowest months. Those are among Belo Horizonte's driest months, with about 40 mm of rain a month against 270 mm in December.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Variable Cracker sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
12th of 15
Of the 15 cities where we can rate Variable Cracker sightings, Belo Horizonte ranks 12th at about 10%. The best odds are in Fortaleza (Brazil, about 30%), São Luís (Brazil, about 20%) and Valencia (Venezuela, about 20%).
Same genus: Hamadryas
The closest relatives of the Variable Cracker that you can see in Belo Horizonte (genus Hamadryas, Cracker Butterflies) are Starry Night Cracker (about 20%), Red Cracker (about 20%) and Gray Cracker (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Variable Cracker is recorded against all the insects logged in Belo Horizonte (11 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.
