Melanitis phedima
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Melanitis phedima, the dark evening brown, is a species of butterfly found flying at dusk. The flight of this species is erratic. They are found in south and southeast Asia. Wet-season form: Male. Upperside dusky fuliginous-brown, the outer borders palest; cilia brown. Forewing very slightly angled below the apex; with a well-defined subcostal nearly round ochreous patch before the apex, divided by the brown radial veinlets. Hindwing unmarked. Underside dark purpurescent-brown, densely and uniformly covered with ochreous-cinereous strigae; the outer border ferruginous. Forewing with four ordinary small obscure white-pupilled ocelli. Hindwing with a series of six submarginal prominent ocelli, the upper second minute, the anal geminated, the other four nearly equal and much larger, each pupilled with white. Female. Upperside. Both wings much paler than in the male. Forewing more broadly angled below the apex; with the entire apical area broadly pale ochreous, on which is placed a round black spot with white pupil, situated between the upper and middle median veinlets, also a minute obsolescent ocellus below it and three above it. Hindwing with a small posterior submarginal... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cuc Phuong National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 2 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Dark Evening Brown sighting in Tokyo on a given day, based on 117 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 136th most-seen of the 1013 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.
April and July–November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Dark Evening Brown in Tokyo on a given day, against under 5% in May–June and December–March, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Dark Evening Brown sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 10
Of the 10 cities where we can rate Dark Evening Brown sightings, Tokyo ranks 7th at about 10%. The best odds are in Tuen Mun (China, about 20%), Nagoya (Japan, about 10%) and Hong Kong (China, about 10%).
Same family: Nymphalidae
The closest relatives of the Dark Evening Brown that you can see in Tokyo (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are Red Ring Skirt (about 20%), Tropical Fritillary (about 20%) and Asian Comma (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Dark Evening Brown is recorded against all the insects logged in Tokyo (117 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.
