Freyeria trochylus
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~80%
Freyeria trochylus, the grass jewel, is a small butterfly found in Africa, Arabia (United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia), southern Europe (Bulgaria and Greece), India and southern Asia that belongs to the lycaenids or blues family.
Male upperside: brown, somewhat variable in tint. Specimens from dry localities are much paler than those taken in areas with a comparatively heavy rainfall. Forewing: uniform, with a very ill-defined anteciliary dark line in some specimens. Hindwing: a subterminal series of round black spots crowned with pale ochraceous, the posterior four spots generally well defined and outwardly edged with white, the anterior spots obsolescent and without the interior edging of yellow or the outer edging of white; a well-marked, slender anteciliary black line. Cilia white, basal halves brown.
Underside: pale silky brown. Forewing: with the following white markings: a short line on the inner and outer sides of the discocellulars; a transverse, slightly curved, discal series of small, more or less incomplete rings; a transverse postdiscal series of disconnected slender lunules; a subterminal series of similar but more regular lunules and a terminal... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Namib-Naukluft National Park | 🇳🇦 Namibia | |
| 4 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Kruger National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lusaka | 🇿🇲 Zambia |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Grass Jewel sighting in Lusaka on a given day, based on 10 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 37th most-seen of the 72 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and May
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Grass Jewel in Lusaka on a given day, against under 5% in July to March, the lowest months. Those are among Lusaka's driest months, with about 15 mm of rain a month against 210 mm in January.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown Grass Jewel sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Lusaka, in our data
Lusaka is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Brown Grass Jewel sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Lycaenidae
The closest relatives of the Brown Grass Jewel that you can see in Lusaka (family Lycaenidae, Gossamer-winged Butterflies) are African Grass Blue (about 90%), Lemolea Harvester (about 60%) and Geranium Bronze (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown Grass Jewel is recorded against all the insects logged in Lusaka (10 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.
