Zygaena loti
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Zygaena loti, the slender Scotch burnet, is a moth of the family Zygaenidae. It is a diurnal moth characterized by a black body, light colored legs, and red spots on its wings. The caterpillars are a yellow-green color and usually molt out of dormancy in late February to early March. The larvae feed on plants from the family Fabaceae until they enter their pupal stage and mature into adults in May to early June. For mating, Zygaenidae exhibit a dual-partner finding strategy, where females use pheromones while assuming a calling position, and males exhibit a patrolling behavior where they utilize both vision and the olfactory receptors in their antennae to locate a potential mate.
Although regionally endangered as their population is declining, Z. loti is found all across Europe, inhabiting areas rich in their desired food plants: lime-rich, and characterized by a hot and dry climate. The decreases in their population are likely due to factors such as habitat loss and fragmentation brought on by commercial agriculture and urbanization, as well as global climate change. There are few conservation programs currently focusing on Zygaena loti.
The following subspecies are... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Slender Scotch Burnet sighting in Mercantour National Park on a given day, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 152nd 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.
July and August
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Slender Scotch Burnet in Mercantour National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to May, the lowest months. Those are among Mercantour National Park's driest months, with about 55 mm of rain a month against 140 mm in October.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Slender Scotch Burnet 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 6 parks where we can rate Slender Scotch Burnet sightings, Mercantour National Park ranks 2nd at about 20%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Vanoise National Park (France, about 20%).
Same genus: Zygaena
The closest relatives of the Slender Scotch Burnet that you can see in Mercantour National Park (genus Zygaena) are Mountain Burnet (about 30%), Transalpine Burnet Moth (about 30%) and Narrow-Bordered Five-Spot Burnet (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Slender Scotch Burnet is recorded against all the insects logged in Mercantour National Park (14 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.
