Oeneis melissa
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
Oeneis melissa, the Melissa Arctic, is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. The wingspan is 42–51 mm. The larvae feed on various sedges, including Carex bigelowii and Carex rupestris. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Melissa Arctic sighting in Rocky Mountain National Park on a given day, based on 18 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 119th most-seen of the 191 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Melissa Arctic in Rocky Mountain National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to June, the lowest months. That is one of Rocky Mountain National Park's wettest months, with about 95 mm of rain against 40 mm in September.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Melissa Arctic sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Rocky Mountain National Park, in our data
Rocky Mountain National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Melissa Arctic sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Melissa Arctic is recorded against all the insects logged in Rocky Mountain National Park (18 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.
