Abantis paradisea
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Abantis paradisea, the paradise skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in KwaZulu-Natal, Zululand, Transvaal, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and from Botswana to Somalia. The wingspan is 40–45 mm (1.6–1.8 in) for males and 43–55 mm (1.7–2.2 in) for females. Adults are on wing year-round with peaks in autumn from April to June and in spring from August to November.
The larvae feed on Hibiscus tiliaceus, Cola natalensis, Annona species, Bridelia cathartica, Bridelia micrantha, Pseudolachnostylis maprouneifolia, Lonchocarpus capassa and Lecaniodiscus fraxinifolius. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Paradise Skipper sighting in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 156th most-seen of the 316 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 Paradise Skipper in iSimangaliso Wetland Park on a given day, against under 5% in April–May and November–February, the lowest months.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Paradise Skipper sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only iSimangaliso Wetland Park, in our data
iSimangaliso Wetland Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Paradise Skipper sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Hesperiidae
The closest relatives of the Paradise Skipper that you can see in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (family Hesperiidae, Skippers) are Honey Hopper (about 10%), Clouded Flat (about 10%) and Lesser-Horned Swift (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Paradise Skipper is recorded against all the insects logged in iSimangaliso Wetland Park (12 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.
