Phyllalia patens
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Phyllalia patens is a species of moth in the family Eupterotidae. It was described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1847. It is found in Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga in South Africa. Adults are fawn coloured, with the abdomen and hindwings hardly paler than the forewings. All wings are very broad and rather short.
The larvae feed on Cynodon dactylon and Ehrharta calycina. They construct a sort of grotto on the ground under the leaves of the host plant, in which it remains concealed during the heat of the day, emerging and feeding in the cool of the evening. The larvae a velvety black body above, while it is pale fulvous underneath. The head is bright red. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Clay Monkey sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 85 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 53rd most-seen of the 311 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 Clay Monkey in Cape Town on a given day, against under 5% in June–July and December–February, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Clay Monkey sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 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 Clay Monkey sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Lepidoptera
The closest relatives of the Clay Monkey that you can see in Cape Town (order Lepidoptera, Butterflies and Moths) are Large White (about 30%), Garden Acraea (about 30%) and Painted Lady (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Clay Monkey is recorded against all the insects logged in Cape Town (85 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.
