Phobetron hipparchia
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Phobetron hipparchia, the monkey slug, is a moth of the family Limacodidae. It is found in Mexico, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Brazil and Argentina. The larvae feed on Gliricidia sepium. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | Parque Natural Metropolitano | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 4 | Tijuca National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Asuncion | 🇵🇾 Paraguay | |
| 2 | Manaus | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Medellín | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 4 | Montevideo | 🇺🇾 Uruguay | |
| 5 | Rio de Janeiro | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | Porto Alegre | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | Campinas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 10 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Monkey Slug Moth sighting in Rio de Janeiro on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 44th most-seen of the 169 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March to January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Monkey Slug Moth in Rio de Janeiro on a given day, against under 5% in February, the lowest month.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Monkey Slug Moth sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 11
Of the 11 cities where we can rate Monkey Slug Moth sightings, Rio de Janeiro ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Asuncion (Paraguay, about 20%), Manaus (Brazil, about 10%) and Medellín (Colombia, about 10%).
Same order: Lepidoptera
The closest relatives of the Monkey Slug Moth that you can see in Rio de Janeiro (order Lepidoptera, Butterflies and Moths) are White Peacock (about 30%), Gulf Fritillary (about 10%) and Ruddy Daggerwing (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Monkey Slug Moth is recorded against all the insects logged in Rio de Janeiro (17 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.
