Ariadne merione
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
Ariadne merione, the common castor, is an orange butterfly with brown lines whose larvae feed almost exclusively on castor (Ricinus communis). It is similar in appearance to Ariadne ariadne, the angled castor. This species is found in South and Southeast Asia. Their wingspan ranges between 30 and 35 mm. Like others in the family Nymphalidae, their front two legs are small and unused, effectively making them four legged. These smaller appendages are covered with long hairs, giving them the characteristic brush look.
Male: Upperside brownish ochraceous. Forewings and hindwings crossed by slender, somewhat obscure, very sinuous or zigzag dark basal, two subbasal and two discal lines disposed in pairs, followed by a single, sometimes double, postdiscal and a single subterminal slender line. All these lines more or less interrupted anteriorly on the hindwing, which has a smooth unmarked uniform appearance from costa to subcostal vein and vein 5. On the forewing there is in addition a series of obscure spots between the postdiscal and subterminal markings, arid a small white subcostal spot before the apex.
Underside much as in Ariadne ariadne, but the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 2 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jabalpur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Salem | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Raipur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Bengaluru | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Tiruppur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Prayagraj | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Jamshedpur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Lucknow | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Hyderabad | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Berhampore | 🇮🇳 India |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Common Castor Butterfly sighting in Kathmandu on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 27th most-seen of the 71 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Common Castor Butterfly in Kathmandu on a given day, against under 5% in February, April–May, August and October, the lowest months. That is one of Kathmandu's driest months, with about 5 mm of rain against 280 mm in July.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Castor Butterfly sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
21st of 29
Of the 29 cities where we can rate Common Castor Butterfly sightings, Kathmandu ranks 21st at about 20%. The best odds are in Jabalpur (India, about 40%), Salem (India, about 40%) and Raipur (India, about 40%).
Same family: Nymphalidae
The closest relatives of the Common Castor Butterfly that you can see in Kathmandu (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are Indian Tortoiseshell (about 40%), Plain Tiger Butterfly (about 40%) and Common Evening Brown (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Castor Butterfly is recorded against all the insects logged in Kathmandu (12 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.
