Dione moneta
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
Dione moneta, the Mexican silverspot, is a species of butterfly of the subfamily Heliconiinae in the family Nymphalidae, found from the southern United States to South America. D. moneta has an orange upperside, and the wing bases are brown in color. It has thick, dark veins. The hind wing of the underside of these butterflies is brown and covered in big, silver spots. Its wings span from 3 – 3 and 1/4 inches.
Moneta is a name given to two goddesses from Roman mythology, both representing fortune and wealth. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Quetzales National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 3 | Volcán Barú National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 4 | Irazú Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Chirripó National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 8 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 9 | Poás Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 11 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 12 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toluca | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | Puebla | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 3 | Cochabamba | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 4 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 5 | León | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 6 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 7 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 8 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 9 | San Luis Potosí | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 10 | Monterrey | 🇲🇽 México |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mexican Silverspot sighting in San José on a given day, based on 55 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 30th most-seen of the 239 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and February
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Mexican Silverspot in San José on a given day, against about 10% in March to December, the lowest months. Those are among San José's driest months, with about 30 mm of rain a month against 300 mm in October.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mexican Silverspot sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
8th of 12
Of the 12 cities where we can rate Mexican Silverspot sightings, San José ranks 8th at about 10%. The best odds are in Toluca (México, about 30%), Puebla (México, about 20%) and Cochabamba (Bolivia, about 20%).
Same genus: Dione
The closest relatives of the Mexican Silverspot that you can see in San José (genus Dione) are Juno Silverspot (about 20%) and Gulf Fritillary (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mexican Silverspot is recorded against all the insects logged in San José (55 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.
