Azanus ubaldus
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Azanus ubaldus, the bright babul blue, desert babul blue, or velvet-spotted blue, is a small butterfly found in India, the Middle East and Africa that belongs to the lycaenids or blues family. Male upperside brownish purple, dark blue at base of wings. Forewing: costa very narrow along its apical half, termen evenly and a little more broadly from apex to tornus, edged with brown; the area on the disc, in the cell and beyond it is covered with hair-like specialized scales and is distinctly darker. Hindwing: similar, the brown edging to the costa much broader; posteriorly in the tornal area there is a dark spot in interspace 1 and another more clearly defined similar spot in interspace 2, both spots merged more or less into the terminal brown edging. Cilia of both forewings and hindwings white, with their basal halves evenly dark brown. Underside: greyish brown. Forewing: two short white lines, one each side of the discocellulars; a minute black subcostal dot above apex of cell, another similar dot a little beyond it; two parallel, obliquely placed, transverse, upper discal white lines, followed by an inner and an outer obliquely placed, irregular, broken, subterminal... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Namib-Naukluft National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 2 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Bright Babul Blue sighting in Johannesburg on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 180th most-seen of the 213 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 a Bright Babul Blue in Johannesburg on a given day, against under 5% in February to October, the lowest months. Those are among Johannesburg's wettest months, with about 110 mm of rain a month against almost none in July.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Bright Babul Blue sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 6
Of the 6 cities where we can rate Bright Babul Blue sightings, Johannesburg ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Salem (India, about 20%), New Delhi (India, about 10%) and Pune (India, about 10%).
Same family: Lycaenidae
The closest relatives of the Bright Babul Blue that you can see in Johannesburg (family Lycaenidae, Gossamer-winged Butterflies) are African Grass Blue (about 20%), Pea Blue (about 10%) and Geranium Bronze (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Bright Babul Blue is recorded against all the insects logged in Johannesburg (5 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.
