Hyponephele lycaon
Silhouette: Mattia Menchetti · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Hyponephele lycaon, the dusky meadow brown, is a butterfly species belonging to the family Nymphalidae. It is broadly distributed in the temperate zone of the Palearctic from Portugal in the west to the Russian Far East in the east.
The wingspan is about 40 mm. The butterflies fly from June to August depending on the location. The larvae feed on various grasses. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | Moscow | 🇷🇺 Russia |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Dusky Meadow Brown sighting in Mercantour National Park on a given day, based on 19 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 129th most-seen of the 412 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.
August
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Dusky Meadow Brown in Mercantour National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to June, the lowest months. That is one of Mercantour National Park's driest months, with about 50 mm of rain against 140 mm in October.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Dusky Meadow Brown 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 4 parks where we can rate Dusky Meadow Brown sightings, Mercantour National Park ranks 2nd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Sierra Nevada National Park (Spain, about 20%).
Same family: Nymphalidae
The closest relatives of the Dusky Meadow Brown that you can see in Mercantour National Park (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are Almond Ringlet (about 40%), Large Ringlet (about 40%) and Niobe Fritillary (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Dusky Meadow Brown is recorded against all the insects logged in Mercantour National Park (19 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.
