Amata phegea
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The nine-spotted moth or yellow belted burnet (Amata phegea, formerly Syntomis phegea) is a moth in the family Erebidae ("tiger moths"). The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
The nine-spotted moth is chiefly found in southern Europe but also seen up to northern Germany, and in the east to Anatolia and the Caucasus, and there are some populations in the south-eastern Dutch nature reserves of Leudal and Meinweg. It does not breed in the United Kingdom, but it is a very rare immigrant. It is also found In India these days. The species prefers drier areas, open ranges with shrubs and trees as well as open forests and warm, sunny slopes.
Amata phegea reaches a wingspan of 35–40 millimetres (1.4–1.6 in). Males are smaller than females and have thicker antennae. Wings are blueish black or greenish black with white spots and metallic sheen. The number and the size of spots are quite variable. Usually there are six white spots on the forewings and two or three spots on the hindwings. The body is quite long, with a yellow spot on the second segment of the abdomen. A further feature is the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plitvice Lakes National Park | 🇭🇷 Croatia | |
| 2 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 3 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 4 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 5 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Nine-Spotted Moth sighting in Bucharest on a given day, based on 18 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 93rd most-seen of the 361 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.
June
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Nine-Spotted Moth in Bucharest on a given day, against under 5% in July to May, the lowest months. That is one of Bucharest's wettest months, with about 80 mm of rain against 35 mm in February.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Nine-Spotted Moth sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 9
Of the 9 cities where we can rate Nine-Spotted Moth sightings, Bucharest ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Kharkiv (Ukraine, about 20%), Vienna (Austria, about 10%) and Budapest (Hungary, about 10%).
Same family: Erebidae
The closest relatives of the Nine-Spotted Moth that you can see in Bucharest (family Erebidae, Underwing, Tiger, Tussock, and Allied Moths) are Four-Spotted Moth (about 10%), Spongy Moth (about 10%) and The Geometrician (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Nine-Spotted Moth is recorded against all the insects logged in Bucharest (18 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.
