Automeris io
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Automeris io, the Io moth (EYE-oh) or peacock moth, is a colorful North American moth in the family Saturniidae. The Io moth is also a member of the subfamily Hemileucinae. The name Io comes from Greek mythology in which Io was a mortal lover of Zeus. The Io moth ranges from the southeast corner of Manitoba and in the southern extremes of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Canada, and in the US it is found from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, east of those states and down to the southern end of Florida. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775.
Imagines (sexually mature, reproductive stage) have a wingspan of 2.5–3.5 inches (63–88 mm). This species is sexually dimorphic: males have bright yellow forewings, body, and legs, while females have reddish-brown to purple forewings, body, and legs. The males also have much bigger plumose (feathery) antennae than the females. Both males and females have one big black to bluish eyespot with some white in the center, on each hindwing. Some hybridizations have resulted in variations in these hindwing eyespots. Adults live 1–2 weeks... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Big Cypress National Preserve | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 6 | Congaree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | San Luis Potosí | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 3 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Monterrey | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 6 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Philadelphia | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 10 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Io Moth sighting in San Luis Potosí on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 36th most-seen of the 91 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Io Moth in San Luis Potosí on a given day, against under 5% in January–February, April–May and September–November, the lowest months. Those are among San Luis Potosí's wettest months, with about 85 mm of rain a month against 5 mm in April.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Io Moth sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
2nd of 12
Of the 12 cities where we can rate Io Moth sightings, San Luis Potosí ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Miami (United States, about 20%).
Same order: Lepidoptera
The closest relatives of the Io Moth that you can see in San Luis Potosí (order Lepidoptera, Butterflies and Moths) are Monarch (about 40%), Two-Tailed Swallowtail (about 20%) and Juno Silverspot (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Io Moth is recorded against all the insects logged in San Luis Potosí (12 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.
