Hestina assimilis
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
Hestina assimilis, the red ring skirt, is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae found in Asia. It is generally of large size, and is named for the row of red submarginal spots on the hindwing of summer-generation adults. The species is saprophagous, with adults feeding on tree sap, rotting fruit and dung rather than nectar.
The species is native to northern Vietnam, southern and eastern continental China, the Korean Peninsula and adjacent islands, and to the Amami Islands of Japan, where the endemic subspecies H. a. shirakii occurs. A separate population of the continental nominate subspecies became established in central Honshu in the late 1990s and is treated in Japan as an invasive alien species. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red Ring Skirt sighting in Hong Kong on a given day, based on 139 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 73rd most-seen of the 1125 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June–July and September
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Red Ring Skirt in Hong Kong on a given day, against under 5% in January and February, the lowest months. Those are among Hong Kong's wettest months, with about 210 mm of rain a month against 25 mm in December.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red Ring Skirt sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
9th of 21
Of the 21 cities where we can rate Red Ring Skirt sightings, Hong Kong ranks 9th at about 10%. The best odds are in Changzhou (China, about 40%), Hefei (China, about 20%) and Xiamen City (China, about 20%).
Same family: Nymphalidae
The closest relatives of the Red Ring Skirt that you can see in Hong Kong (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are Ceylon Blue Glassy Tiger (about 30%), Blue-Spotted Crow Butterfly (about 30%) and Great Eggfly (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red Ring Skirt is recorded against all the insects logged in Hong Kong (139 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.
