Wittia sororcula
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Wittia sororcula, the orange footman, is a species of moth in the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is found in Europe, Anatolia and further east across the Palearctic to southern Siberia and the Amur basin to China.
The wingspan is 27–30 millimetres (1.1–1.2 in). Forewing with the costa strongly convex and therefore the apical portion of the forewing considerably broader than in the forms of the luterella group. Head, thorax, end of abdomen and the forewing bright golden yellow, the hindwing of male but little paler; in the female both wings slightly paler orange yellow. In contradistinction to lutarella, the costal area of the hindwing above and beneath is never black.
The orange footman was previously placed in the genus Eilema, but was transferred to the genus Wittia by Vladimir Viktorovitch Dubatolov in 2011. Wittia sororcula sororcula Wittia sororcula orientis (Daniel, 1954) The moth flies from April to June depending on the location. Larva blackish, with two yellow dorsal stripes with red dots and white spots. The... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porto | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 2 | Essen | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Nizhny Novgorod | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 4 | Paris | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 6 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 7 | Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 8 | Barcelona | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Vienna | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 10 | Prague | 🇨🇿 Czechia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Orange Footman sighting in Paris on a given day, based on 18 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 368th most-seen of the 916 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.
April–May and August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Orange Footman in Paris on a given day, against under 5% in June–July and September–March, the lowest months.
Between 10 pm and 1 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Orange Footman 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.
4th of 10
Of the 10 cities where we can rate Orange Footman sightings, Paris ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Porto (Portugal, about 10%), Essen (Germany, about 10%) and Nizhny Novgorod (Russia, under 5%).
Same family: Erebidae
The closest relatives of the Orange Footman that you can see in Paris (family Erebidae, Underwing, Tiger, Tussock, and Allied Moths) are Jersey Tiger (about 10%), Spongy Moth (about 10%) and Burnet Companion (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Orange Footman is recorded against all the insects logged in Paris (18 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.
