Epicallia villica
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Arctia villica, the cream-spot tiger, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is distributed from the Iberian Peninsula, Anatolia, western and northern Iran, western Siberia, southwestern Asia and North Africa.
This species, along with the others of the genus Epicallia, was moved to Arctia as a result of phylogenetic research published by Rönkä et al. in 2016. The wingspan of these moths reaches 45–60 mm. They have black or greyish forewings with white and cream broad patches and spots. The bright red/orange hind wings have black spots. The thorax is black and the abdomen is reddish-orange. The highly coloured parts are bright scarlet on a newly emerged insect and tend to dull to orange with age. The caterpillars are black with light brown tufts of hairs, while the head and the legs are reddish. They can reach a length of about 12–12 mm.
The moths are nocturnal and attracted by light, but the females fly also during the day. By day these moths can be found resting on leaves. Moths of this species fly from March to July depending on the location. The caterpillars... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 4 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 8 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Cream-Spot Tiger sighting in Istanbul on a given day, based on 15 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 112th most-seen of the 266 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Cream-Spot Tiger in Istanbul on a given day, against under 5% in July to March, the lowest months.
Between 10 pm and 1 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cream-Spot Tiger sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
Among the best
Of the 6 cities where we can rate Cream-Spot Tiger sightings, Istanbul ranks 3rd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Naples (Italy, about 10%) and Rome (Italy, about 10%).
Same family: Erebidae
The closest relatives of the Cream-Spot Tiger that you can see in Istanbul (family Erebidae, Underwing, Tiger, Tussock, and Allied Moths) are Fall Webworm Moth (about 10%), Four-Spotted Moth (about 10%) and Spongy Moth (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cream-Spot Tiger is recorded against all the insects logged in Istanbul (15 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.
