Neotephritis finalis
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Neotephritis finalis, the sunflower seed maggot, is a species of fruit fly in the family Tephritidae. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Death Valley National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Phoenix | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 8 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sunflower Seed Maggot sighting in Death Valley National Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 91st most-seen of the 108 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.
October
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Sunflower Seed Maggot in Death Valley National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April–September and November–February, the lowest months.
Between 4 and 7 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sunflower Seed Maggot sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Only Death Valley National Park, in our data
Death Valley National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Sunflower Seed Maggot sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Diptera
The closest relatives of the Sunflower Seed Maggot that you can see in Death Valley National Park (order Diptera, Flies) are Large Creosote Gall Midge (about 60%), Western Black Horse Fly (about 40%) and Large-Tailed Aphideater (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sunflower Seed Maggot is recorded against all the insects logged in Death Valley National Park (7 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
