Melanargia galathea
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Melanargia galathea, the marbled white, is a medium-sized butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. The marbled white was described in 1666 by C Merrett, and in 1695 James Petiver found a specimen in a wood near Hampstead and called it Papilio leucomelanus, our half-Mourner, to distinguish it from the Bath White, which Vernon (1702) had called the half-Mourner. It was also known as The Marmoris by Benjamin Wilkes and The Marmoress by Moses Harris. The butterfly was, also described in 1758, by the Swedish biologist and physician, Carl Linnaeus who formalised binomial nomenclature. Despite its common name and appearance, this butterfly is one of the "browns", of the subfamily Satyrinae.
This species can be found across most of Europe, southern Russia, Asia Minor and Iran. It is found in forest clearings and edges, meadows and steppe where it occurs up to 1,500–1,700 metres (4,900–5,600 ft) above sea level. The caterpillars feed on various grasses.
Melanargia galathea has a wingspan of 46–56 millimetres (1.8–2.2 in). In these medium-sized butterflies the upper side of the wings is decorated with white and gray-black or dark brown markings, but it is always gray-black... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Picos de Europa National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 3 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 8 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 9 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 10 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 11 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 12 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 13 | Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 14 | Plitvice Lakes National Park | 🇭🇷 Croatia | |
| 15 | Tatra National Park | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | |
| 16 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Marbled White sighting in Paris on a given day, based on 91 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 100th most-seen of the 916 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Marbled White in Paris on a given day, against under 5% in August to May, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Marbled White sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
10th of 14
Of the 14 cities where we can rate Marbled White sightings, Paris ranks 10th at about 10%. The best odds are in Prague (Czechia, about 20%), London (United Kingdom, about 20%) and Kharkiv (Ukraine, about 20%).
Same family: Nymphalidae
The closest relatives of the Marbled White that you can see in Paris (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are Red Admiral (about 30%), Speckled Wood (about 30%) and Large Wall Brown (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Marbled White is recorded against all the insects logged in Paris (91 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.
