Calliteara pudibunda
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pale Tussock Moth sighting in Berlin on a given day, based on 68 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 130th most-seen of the 1065 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Pale Tussock Moth in Berlin on a given day, against under 5% in June and November–March, the lowest months.
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.
4th of 26
Of the 26 cities where we can rate Pale Tussock Moth sightings, Berlin ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Kharkiv (Ukraine, about 20%), Manchester (United Kingdom, about 10%) and Liverpool (United Kingdom, about 10%).
Same family: Erebidae
The closest relatives of the Pale Tussock Moth that you can see in Berlin (family Erebidae, Underwing, Tiger, Tussock, and Allied Moths) are Spongy Moth (about 10%), Burnet Companion (about 10%) and Straw Dot (about 10%), 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 Berlin (68 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.
