Ichneutica mollis
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
Ichneutica mollis is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is endemic to New Zealand and is found from the Coromandel peninsular and Mount Te Aroha southwards including in the South and Stewart Islands. It lives in a variety of habitats including mountainous beech forest, podocarp forest and also grasslands. The larvae feed on grasses and herbs. The adults of this species are on the wing from October to March and are attracted to light and feed on blossoms.
It was described by George Howes in 1908 from specimens collected in and around Otago and Southland and originally named Melanchra molis. The male lectotype specimen is held at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. In 1988 J. S. Dugdale placed this species within the Graphania genus. When doing so Dugdale suggested that Howes intended the spelling of the species name to be mollis. In 2019 Robert Hoare undertook a major review of New Zealand Noctuidae. During this review the genus Ichneutica was greatly expanded and the genus Graphania was subsumed into that genus as a synonym. Hoare also addressed the spelling of the species name, stating that as mollis is "in the prevailing usage and is attributed to the publication... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rakiura National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report an Ichneutica mollis sighting in Rakiura National Park on a given day, based on 44 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 14th most-seen of the 118 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December and January
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report an Ichneutica mollis in Rakiura National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February to November, the lowest months.
Between 10 pm and 1 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Ichneutica mollis sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Only Rakiura National Park, in our data
Rakiura National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Ichneutica mollis sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Ichneutica
The closest relatives of the Ichneutica mollis that you can see in Rakiura National Park (genus Ichneutica) are New Zealand Cutworm (about 30%), Ichneutica atristriga (about 20%) and Common Dotted Wainscot (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Ichneutica mollis is recorded against all the insects logged in Rakiura National Park (44 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.
