Olene mendosa
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Olene mendosa, the brown tussock moth or hairy tussock moth, is a species of moth in the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1823. It is found in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia.
Sexes show dimorphism with variable colour morphs. The wingspan of the female is about 46–54 mm, whereas the male's is about 30–40 mm. The adult male has two morphs. The common form is smoke brown with uniformly brown forewings and pale greyish hindwings. In the forewing, black specks and a pale patch outside the subbasal line can be seen.
The adult female also has two forms with an areole on each forewing and they lack the white colored portions on forewings which is found on male. The common form has an irregular longitudinal dark brown zone in the center of forewing. The more rare form has pale colours. The underside of the wings are similar in both sexes with less pronounced markings.
The full-grown caterpillar is 38–44 mm long. It is hairy with four white or brown dorsal tussocks. It is greyish brown with a crimson-reddish head, legs and prolegs. Head with red stripes found on full-grown caterpillar. Pupation occurs... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 2 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Tussock Moth sighting in Kanha National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 67th most-seen of the 106 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.
November
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Brown Tussock Moth in Kanha National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January and March–October, the lowest months. That is one of Kanha National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 430 mm in July.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown Tussock Moth sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 2
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Brown Tussock Moth sightings, Kanha National Park ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Taroko National Park (Taiwan, about 30%).
Same family: Erebidae
The closest relatives of the Brown Tussock Moth that you can see in Kanha National Park (family Erebidae, Underwing, Tiger, Tussock, and Allied Moths) are Handmaiden Moth (about 50%), Lymantria marginata (about 40%) and Banyan Tussock Moth (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown Tussock Moth is recorded against all the insects logged in Kanha National Park (8 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.
