Dark Arches

Dark Arches

Apamea monoglypha

Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Pyrénées National Park

In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%

23 Verified sightings at Pyrénées National Park From 2019 to 2026
323 In all 9 parks
August Best month
☀️🌙 Day & Night When it's spotted

About the Dark Arches

Apamea monoglypha, the dark arches, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is a common, sometimes abundant, European species. It is found in most of Europe except northernmost Fennoscandia and the southern parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Greece. The species is also found in Anatolia, Turkestan, Western Asia and Central Asia, Siberia and Mongolia. In the Alps it is found up to heights of 2,500 meters. The smaller subspecies sardoa is found on Sardinia and Corsica.

This species has a wingspan of 46 to 54 mm, the forewings varying from pale greyish brown to almost black and cryptically patterned. All but the darkest individuals usually have an obvious black mark close to the dorsum and a pale zigzag subterminal line. The hindwings are whitish with darker venation and a dark shaded band at the margin. The larva is dull whitish grey or dark grey; dorsal line pale: lateral line broadly pale; tubercles large and black; head and thoracic plate brown black.

Forewing varying from whitish ochreous, through pale and dark grey to brownish grey, dark brown and black; a black streak from... Wikipedia →

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Snowdonia National Park 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~30%
2 Cairngorms National Park 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~20%
3 Vanoise National Park 🇫🇷 France
~10%
4 Wadden Sea National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
~10%
5 Mercantour National Park 🇫🇷 France
~10%
6 Bavarian Forest National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
~10%
7 Sierra Nevada National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
~10%
8 Pyrénées National Park 🇫🇷 France
~10%
9 Cévennes National Park 🇫🇷 France
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Liverpool 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~30%
2 London 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~20%
3 Manchester 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~10%
4 Birmingham 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~10%
5 Leeds 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~10%
6 Helsinki 🇫🇮 Finland
~10%
7 Minsk 🇧🇾 Belarus
~10%
8 Berlin 🇩🇪 Germany
~10%
9 Nizhny Novgorod 🇷🇺 Russia
~10%
10 Hamburg 🇩🇪 Germany
~10%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Dark Arches in Pyrénées National Park?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Dark Arches sighting in Pyrénées National Park on a given day, based on 23 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 415th most-seen of the 1277 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Dark Arches in Pyrénées National Park?

June to August

In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Dark Arches in Pyrénées National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to May, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see a Dark Arches?

Between 6 and 9 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Dark Arches sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.

Is Pyrénées National Park the best place to see a Dark Arches?

8th of 9

Of the 9 parks where we can rate Dark Arches sightings, Pyrénées National Park ranks 8th at about 10%. The best odds are in Snowdonia National Park (United Kingdom, about 30%), Cairngorms National Park (United Kingdom, about 20%) and Vanoise National Park (France, about 10%).

Where does the Dark Arches sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Dark Arches is recorded against all the insects logged in Pyrénées National Park (23 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.

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