Hyles livornica
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
Hyles livornica, the striped hawk-moth, is a moth of the family Sphingidae. Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper described the striped hawk-moth in 1780 using a specimen found in Italy at Livorno (hence the Latin name livornica). In 1819 Jacob Hübner allocated this species in his newly erected genus Hyles.
Until the 20th century Hyles livornica has been considered conspecific with the American Hyles lineata and is therefore under that name (or as Celerio lineata ssp. livornica) found in the older literature. Similar was the case with the Hyles livornicoides, which is prevalent in Australia. Hyles renneri from Nepal is sometimes treated as a valid species.
On the basis of DNA testing it is well established that H. livornica in its entire Afro-Palaearctic distribution forms a genetic and taxonomic unit. This results in the following relationships among the Palaearctic widespread species of the genus Hyles:
This species is found in Africa, southern Europe, Poland, Australia, and central and east Asia. Hyles livornica has a wingspan reaching 60–80 mm. Males are slightly smaller than females. The forewings and the body are mainly... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 4 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | Namib-Naukluft National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 6 | Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 8 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 9 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 10 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Striped Hawkmoth sighting in Lisbon on a given day, based on 38 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 82nd most-seen of the 441 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May to July
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Striped Hawkmoth in Lisbon on a given day, against under 5% in August to April, the lowest months. Those are among Lisbon's driest months, with about 15 mm of rain a month against 95 mm in November.
Between 10 pm and 1 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Striped Hawkmoth sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
15th of 17
Of the 17 cities where we can rate Striped Hawkmoth sightings, Lisbon ranks 15th at about 10%. The best odds are in Mashhad (Iran, about 50%), Kuwait City (Kuwait, about 30%) and Marrakesh (Morocco, about 20%).
Same family: Sphingidae
The closest relatives of the Striped Hawkmoth that you can see in Lisbon (family Sphingidae, Sphinx Moths) are Eurasian Hummingbird Hawkmoth (about 10%), Death's Head Hawkmoth (about 10%) and Vine Hawkmoth (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Striped Hawkmoth is recorded against all the insects logged in Lisbon (38 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.
