Hestina assimilis
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Hestina assimilis, the red ring skirt, is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae found in Asia. It is generally of large size, and is named for the row of red submarginal spots on the hindwing of summer-generation adults. The species is saprophagous, with adults feeding on tree sap, rotting fruit and dung rather than nectar.
The species is native to northern Vietnam, southern and eastern continental China, the Korean Peninsula and adjacent islands, and to the Amami Islands of Japan, where the endemic subspecies H. a. shirakii occurs. A separate population of the continental nominate subspecies became established in central Honshu in the late 1990s and is treated in Japan as an invasive alien species. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red Ring Skirt sighting in Shanghai on a given day, based on 37 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 44th most-seen of the 215 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.
August
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Red Ring Skirt in Shanghai on a given day, against under 5% in January, the lowest month. That is one of Shanghai's wettest months, with about 170 mm of rain against 55 mm in December.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red Ring Skirt sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
13th of 21
Of the 21 cities where we can rate Red Ring Skirt sightings, Shanghai ranks 13th at about 10%. The best odds are in Changzhou (China, about 40%), Hefei (China, about 20%) and Xiamen City (China, about 20%).
Same family: Nymphalidae
The closest relatives of the Red Ring Skirt that you can see in Shanghai (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are Tropical Fritillary (about 30%), Asian Comma (about 20%) and Lesser Purple Emperor (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red Ring Skirt is recorded against all the insects logged in Shanghai (37 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.
