Zygaena exulans
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
Zygaena exulans, the mountain burnet or Scotch burnet, is a moth of the family Zygaenidae. It is also present in Scotland, in Scandinavia and in northern Russia. These moths inhabit mountain lawns and northern moors. Zygaena exulans has a wingspan of 25–33 millimetres (0.98–1.30 in). The body is densely haired. The forewings are black-gray in males, matt gray in the females, almost translucent and with a metallic sheen. They have four distinct red dots and a red basal elongated stain. The spot on the wing root is wedge-shaped, the others are oval or round. The hindwings are red with a gray outer edge and black fringes. The antennae are club-shaped.
These moths have an aposemantic coloration. In the event... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 3 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Mountain Burnet sighting in Mercantour National Park on a given day, based on 78 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 26th most-seen of the 412 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Mountain Burnet in Mercantour National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January–April and September–November, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mountain Burnet sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Mountain Burnet sightings, Mercantour National Park ranks 3rd at about 30%. The best odds are in Vanoise National Park (France, about 40%) and Hohe Tauern National Park (Austria, about 40%).
Same genus: Zygaena
The closest relatives of the Mountain Burnet that you can see in Mercantour National Park (genus Zygaena) are Transalpine Burnet Moth (about 30%), Narrow-Bordered Five-Spot Burnet (about 20%) and Slender Scotch Burnet (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mountain Burnet is recorded against all the insects logged in Mercantour National Park (78 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.
