Colias electo
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Colias electo, the African clouded yellow or lucerne butterfly, is a butterfly of the family Pieridae. It is found in eastern and southern Africa, as well as Arabia. The habitat consists of temperate and montane grasslands.
The wingspan is 35–40 millimetres (1.4–1.6 in) for males and 32–40 mm (1.3–1.6 in) for females. Adults are on the wing throughout the year, with a peak from April to August. The larvae feed on Medicago sativa, Trifolium, Vicia and Robinia pseudoacacia.
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| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an African Clouded Yellow sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 21 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 145th most-seen of the 311 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November to January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an African Clouded Yellow in Cape Town on a given day, against under 5% in February to October, the lowest months. Those are among Cape Town's driest months, with about 30 mm of rain a month against 140 mm in June.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Clouded Yellow sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Cape Town, in our data
Cape Town is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate African Clouded Yellow sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Pieridae
The closest relatives of the African Clouded Yellow that you can see in Cape Town (family Pieridae, Whites, Yellows, and Sulphurs) are Large White (about 30%), Eastern Dotted Border (about 10%) and African Meadow White (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Clouded Yellow is recorded against all the insects logged in Cape Town (21 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.
