Purple Hairstreak

Purple Hairstreak

Quercusia quercus

Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Vienna

In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%

5 Verified sightings at Vienna
56 In all 5 parks From 2019 to 2026
October Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Purple Hairstreak

The purple hairstreak (Favonius quercus) is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae distributed throughout much of Europe, North Africa, Anatolia, Caucasia, and Transcaucasia. The larva feeds on Quercus robur, Quercus petraea, Quercus cerris and Quercus ilex.

Z. quercus L. (74 c, d). male above with a blue gloss and narrow black distal border, the female with the basal area of the forewing blue and often the cell of the hindwing bluish. Underside leaden-grey, with a proximally dark-edged white line before the outer third and in the anal area of the hindwing weak yellow spots. ab. obsoleta Tutt are females without any blue gloss; there occur also transitional specimens with the blue reduced (semiobsoleta). ab. pallescens Tutt are males with a pale grey greenish instead of blue gloss. In ab. excessus Tutt the hindmargin of the forewing bears a coppery streak. Courvoisier proposes the name ab. latefasciata... Wikipedia →

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Sierra Nevada National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
~10%
2 Cévennes National Park 🇫🇷 France
~10%
3 Pyrénées National Park 🇫🇷 France
~10%
4 Bavarian Forest National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
<5%
5 Sierra de Guadarrama National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Kharkiv 🇺🇦 Ukraine
~10%
2 London 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~10%
3 Prague 🇨🇿 Czechia
~10%
4 Birmingham 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~10%
5 Copenhagen 🇩🇰 Denmark
~10%
6 Berlin 🇩🇪 Germany
<5%
7 Paris 🇫🇷 France
<5%
8 Munich 🇩🇪 Germany
<5%
9 Moscow 🇷🇺 Russia
<5%
10 Vienna 🇦🇹 Austria
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Purple Hairstreak in Vienna?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Hairstreak sighting in Vienna on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 1286th most-seen of the 1406 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.

When is the best time to see a Purple Hairstreak in Vienna?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Hairstreak in Vienna on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

What time of day is best to see a Purple Hairstreak?

Between 10 am and 1 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Purple Hairstreak sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Vienna the best place to see a Purple Hairstreak?

10th of 10

Of the 10 cities where we can rate Purple Hairstreak sightings, Vienna ranks 10th at under 5%. The best odds are in Kharkiv (Ukraine, about 10%), London (United Kingdom, about 10%) and Prague (Czechia, about 10%).

Which relatives of the Purple Hairstreak live in Vienna?

Same family: Lycaenidae

The closest relatives of the Purple Hairstreak that you can see in Vienna (family Lycaenidae, Gossamer-winged Butterflies) are Common Blue (about 20%), Sooty Copper (about 10%) and Holly Blue (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.

Where does the Purple Hairstreak sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Purple Hairstreak is recorded against all the insects logged in Vienna (5 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.

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