Spialia diomus
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Spialia diomus, the common sandman or Diomus grizzled skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in tropical Africa and south-western Arabia. The wingspan is 27–31 mm for males and 29–33 mm for females. Adults are on wing year-round in warmer areas. In South Africa it is more common in warmer months. In cooler areas adults are on wing from August to April.
The larvae feed on Hibiscus (including Hibiscus aethiopicus), Sida, Pavonia (including Pavonia burchellii), Waltheria and Hermannia species (including Hermannia diffusa, Hermannia incana, Hermannia comosa, Hermannia depressa and Hermannia cuneifolia). Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Sandman sighting in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 25th most-seen of the 31 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.
May
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Common Sandman in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–February and June–November, the lowest months. That is one of Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 40 mm in January.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Sandman sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, in our data
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Common Sandman sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Lepidoptera
The closest relatives of the Common Sandman that you can see in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (order Lepidoptera, Butterflies and Moths) are Pioneer White (about 30%), Plain Tiger Butterfly (about 30%) and African Migrant (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Sandman is recorded against all the insects logged in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (6 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.
