Junonia stemosa
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
Junonia stemosa, commonly known as the twintip buckeye, is a butterfly species in the family Nymphalidae. It was described in 2020 and is found in southern Texas, particularly on barrier islands such as South Padre Island. Its larval host plant is Stemodia tomentosa (woolly stemodia), a light gray perennial common in sandy coastal soils. J. stemosa is closely related to Junonia coenia (the common buckeye) but can be distinguished by its unique morphological and ecological adaptations that allow it to feed on S. tomentosa.
Junonia stemosa was formally described in 2020 as part of a genomic revision of North American Junonia butterflies. The species was identified as genetically and morphologically distinct from both Junonia coenia (the common buckeye) and Junonia nigrosuffusa (the dark buckeye). Analyses showed that populations feeding on Stemodia tomentosa in southern Texas represented a separate evolutionary lineage within the genus Junonia. Earlier authors frequently treated these populations as part of J. nigrosuffusa or as melanistic forms of J. coenia, but whole-genome comparisons revealed consistent divergence in a suite of “speciation proteins... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Padre Island National Seashore | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Twintip Buckeye sighting in Padre Island National Seashore on a given day, based on 146 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the most-seen of the 74 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Twintip Buckeye in Padre Island National Seashore on a given day, against about 20% in November, the lowest month.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Twintip Buckeye sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Padre Island National Seashore, in our data
Padre Island National Seashore is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Twintip Buckeye sightings: about 40% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Twintip Buckeye is recorded against all the insects logged in Padre Island National Seashore (146 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.
