Hypodryas cynthia
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Euphydryas cynthia, or Cynthia's fritillary, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in the Alps and in mountainous areas of Bulgaria in alpine meadows from 400 to 2,300 meters. The wingspan is 32–42 mm. It has an orange and brown checkered upperside pattern separated by the veins and organized in lines. Euphydryas cynthia is sexually dimorphic: the male has white checkerboards in the basal and discal areas of the wing whereas the female is all checkered orange. The reverse is orange with light checkerboards, anterior and posterior in the male, only towards the posterior in the female whose anterior area is checkered more or less dark. On the upperside and the underside of the female the orange checkers of the postdiscal band are centered by a black dot.
The form Euphydryas cynthia alpicola is small and presents a black suffusion on the front, the forms Euphydryas cynthia drenovskii and Euphydryas cynthia leonardi, are larger and more colourful. The larvae feed on Plantago species, including P. alpina, and Alchemilla species. Larvae and pupae also contain three iridoid glucosides: aucubin, catalpa, and 6-O-glucopyranosylaucubin. Small... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Cynthia's Fritillary sighting in Hohe Tauern National Park on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 80th most-seen of the 165 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Cynthia's Fritillary in Hohe Tauern National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–May and August–October, the lowest months. December has too few records to rate.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cynthia's Fritillary sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Cynthia's Fritillary sightings, Hohe Tauern National Park ranks 3rd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Mercantour National Park (France, about 20%) and Vanoise National Park (France, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cynthia's Fritillary is recorded against all the insects logged in Hohe Tauern National Park (9 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.
