Dione vanillae
In 3 days ~70% in a week >90%
The Gulf fritillary or passion butterfly (Dione vanillae or Agraulis vanillae in other taxonomies) is a bright orange butterfly in the subfamily Heliconiinae of the family Nymphalidae. That subfamily was formerly set apart as a separate family, the Heliconiidae. The Heliconiinae are "longwing butterflies", which have long, narrow wings compared to other butterflies.
Dione vanillae is most commonly found in the southern areas of the United States, specifically in many regions of Florida and Texas. Gulf fritillaries have a chemical defense mechanism in which they release odorous chemicals in response to predator sightings. As a result, common predators learn to avoid this species. Pheromones play a critical role in male-female courtship behaviors, with male gulf fritillaries emitting sex pheromones that contribute to mate choice in females.
The scientific name Papilio vanillae was given to the gulf fritillary by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, based on a 1705 painting by Maria Sibylla Merian (The Metamorphosis of the Insects of Surinam, Plate XXV), which shows the adult and caterpillar of the gulf fritillary on a vanilla orchid, Vanilla planifolia. However, it is now known that the gulf fritillary caterpillar does not use the vanilla plant. The species was moved to the genus Agraulis in 1835 by Boisduval & Le Conte. A phylogenetic analysis reported in 2019 placed Agraulis as a sub-genus of Dione. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cochabamba | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 2 | Rosario | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 3 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 4 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Mendoza | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 6 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Santo Domingo | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 8 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 10 | Cordoba | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Gulf Fritillary sighting in Iberá National Park on a given day, based on 40 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 4th most-seen of the 35 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April–October and December
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Gulf Fritillary in Iberá National Park on a given day, against about 20% in February and November, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Gulf 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.
3rd of 42
Of the 42 parks where we can rate Gulf Fritillary sightings, Iberá National Park ranks 3rd at about 40%. The best odds are in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (United States, about 50%) and Big Cypress National Preserve (United States, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Nymphalidae
The closest relatives of the Gulf Fritillary that you can see in Iberá National Park (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are Red Peacock (about 40%), White Peacock (about 40%) and Banded Orange Heliconian (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Gulf Fritillary is recorded against all the insects logged in Iberá National Park (40 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.
