Pardopsis punctatissima
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Pardopsis is a monotypic butterfly genus in the family Nymphalidae. Its only species is Pardopsis punctatissima, the polka dot. It is found in the fynbos of South Africa, in lowland and Afromontane forest, and grassland from Van Stadens Pass in the Eastern Cape, along the foothills of the eastern escarpment into Mpumalanga and Limpopo, north to Mozambique and from Zimbabwe to Ethiopia. It is also present in Madagascar.
The wingspan is 30–34 mm for males and 33–36 mm for females. Adults are on wing year round with a peak from October to March. The larvae feed on Hybanthus capensis. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Polka Dot sighting in Durban on a given day, based on 13 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 176th most-seen of the 401 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.
March–April and October–January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Polka Dot in Durban on a given day, against under 5% in February and May–September, the lowest months. Those are among Durban's wettest months, with about 170 mm of rain a month against 25 mm in June.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Polka Dot sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Durban, in our data
Durban is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Polka Dot sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Nymphalidae
The closest relatives of the Polka Dot that you can see in Durban (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are Spotted Brown Pansy (about 30%), Dark Blue Pansy (about 20%) and Common Mother-Of-Pearl (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Polka Dot is recorded against all the insects logged in Durban (13 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.
