Melitaea didyma
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
Melitaea didyma, the spotted fritillary or red-band fritillary, is a Palearctic butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. Melitaea didyma is a medium-sized butterfly with a wingspan reaching 35–50 millimetres (1.4–2.0 in). The overside of the wings is a bright orange-brown with dark brown markings arranged in rows, which are quite variable in quantity and size. Sometimes the colour of the females is a duller orange, shaded with grey-green. The underside of the wings is chequered pale yellow and pale orange. M. didyma has seasonal forms and sexual dimorphism.
The male is fiery red, with a narrow dentate black distal border and a moderate number of small black dots and spots, which are dispersed over the basal half of the wing and end with a short band extending beyond the cell from the costa into the disc. On the underside, which is very abundantly marked with small black dots and hooks, a flexuose subbasal band and a curved submarginal one are situated on a delicately greenish, or yellowish, white ground. In the female the forewing and the anal area of the hindwing are much paler, being moreover dusted with blackish, while the costal half of the hindwing has preserved the... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 8 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Fritillary sighting in Mercantour National Park on a given day, based on 49 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 36th 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.
May and July–August
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Fritillary 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 Spotted Fritillary 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 9 parks where we can rate Spotted Fritillary sightings, Mercantour National Park ranks 3rd at about 30%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Vanoise National Park (France, about 30%) and Aigüestortes National Park (Spain, about 30%).
Same genus: Melitaea
The closest relatives of the Spotted Fritillary that you can see in Mercantour National Park (genus Melitaea) are Knapweed Fritillary (about 30%), Heath Fritillary (about 30%) and Glanville Fritillary (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Spotted Fritillary is recorded against all the insects logged in Mercantour National Park (49 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.
