Sthenopis purpurascens
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Sthenopis purpurascens, the four-spotted ghost moth, is a species of moth of the family Hepialidae. It was described by Packard in 1863. It is found in Canada and the United States, from Labrador and New York north and west to British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, south in the mountains to Arizona.
The wingspan is 66–100 mm. There are two color forms, a purple-grey and a yellow-brown form. The hindwings are purple brown or salmon pink and generally unmarked. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elk Island National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Four-Spotted Ghost Moth sighting in Elk Island National Park on a given day, based on 5 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 97th most-seen of the 112 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.
July
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Four-Spotted Ghost Moth in Elk Island National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to June, the lowest months. That is one of Elk Island National Park's wettest months, with about 110 mm of rain against 20 mm in December.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Four-Spotted Ghost Moth sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Elk Island National Park, in our data
Elk Island National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Four-Spotted Ghost Moth sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Lepidoptera
The closest relatives of the Four-Spotted Ghost Moth that you can see in Elk Island National Park (order Lepidoptera, Butterflies and Moths) are Virginia Ctenucha Moth (about 50%), Pearl Crescent (about 40%) and Red-Spotted Admiral (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Four-Spotted Ghost Moth is recorded against all the insects logged in Elk Island National Park (5 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.
