Xestia c-nigrum
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The setaceous Hebrew character (Xestia c-nigrum) is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is found in the Palearctic realm. It is a common species throughout Europe and North Asia and Central Asia, South Asia, China, Japan and Korea. It is also found in North America, from coast to coast across Canada and the northern United States to western Alaska. It occurs in the Rocky Mountains from Montana to southern Arizona and New Mexico. In the east, it ranges from Maine to North Carolina. It has recently been recorded in Tennessee.
The forewings of this species are reddish brown with distinctive patterning towards the base: a black mark resembling the Hebrew letter nun (נ), thus inspiring the common name, with a pale cream-coloured area adjacent to this mark. The hindwings are cream coloured. "Setaceous", meaning "having bristles", refers to the hairs on the top of the thorax and fringing the wings.
The wingspan is 35–45 mm. Forewing purplish grey or purplish fuscous with a leaden gloss; costal area at middle ochreous, merged with the bluntly triangular orbicular stigma: cell, a submedian... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nikko National Park | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 2 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 7 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | London | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Porto | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 4 | Kharkiv | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 5 | Kyiv | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 6 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 7 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 8 | Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 9 | Essen | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 10 | Vienna | 🇦🇹 Austria |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Setaceous Hebrew Character sighting in San Francisco on a given day, based on 52 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 237th most-seen of the 737 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Setaceous Hebrew Character in San Francisco on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Setaceous Hebrew Character sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
28th of 30
Of the 30 cities where we can rate Setaceous Hebrew Character sightings, San Francisco ranks 28th at under 5%. The best odds are in Liverpool (United Kingdom, about 30%), London (United Kingdom, about 10%) and Porto (Portugal, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Setaceous Hebrew Character is recorded against all the insects logged in San Francisco (52 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.
