Danaus erippus
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Danaus erippus, the southern monarch, is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. It is one of the best known butterflies in South America. Its genome is nearly identical to D. plexippus, but the two are incompatible, and therefore considered separate species.
Danaus erippus is included with other Nymphalidae, the largest family of butterflies with about 6000 species distributed throughout most of the world. It has a reduced pair of forelegs, is brightly coloured, and is included with popular species such as the emperors, admirals, tortoiseshells, and fritillaries. Its wingspan reaches about 110 millimetres (4.3 in), with an easily recognizable orange and black pattern. Until 2007, this butterfly was treated as a subspecies of Danaus plexippus. These species are very similar, but D. erippus usually has an orange trailing edge of the forewings, while in D. plexippus it is black. The lineages of the two species are thought to have separated about 2 million years ago. The colour of the wings in males of the southern monarch is paler than in the females.
Though, not as well known as the eastern North American monarch migratory... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | El Palmar National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 2 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cochabamba | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 2 | Rosario | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 3 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 4 | São Luís | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Montevideo | 🇺🇾 Uruguay | |
| 6 | Fortaleza | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Porto Alegre | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 9 | Curitiba | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Belém | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Monarch sighting in Brasilia on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 60th most-seen of the 102 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Monarch in Brasilia on a given day, against under 5% in March, May–September and November–December, the lowest months. That is one of Brasilia's wettest months, with about 210 mm of rain against almost none in July.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Southern Monarch sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
14th of 15
Of the 15 cities where we can rate Southern Monarch sightings, Brasilia ranks 14th at about 10%. The best odds are in Cochabamba (Bolivia, about 40%), Rosario (Argentina, about 40%) and Buenos Aires (Argentina, about 30%).
Same family: Nymphalidae
The closest relatives of the Southern Monarch that you can see in Brasilia (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are White Peacock (about 30%), Coconut Caterpillar (about 20%) and Gulf Fritillary (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Southern Monarch is recorded against all the insects logged in Brasilia (7 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.
