Gynaephora rossii
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Gynaephora rossii, in English known as Ross' tussock moth, is a species of tussock moth in the family Erebidae. It is widespread in the tundras and highlands of the Holarctic. It has large, furry caterpillars which seem to eat mostly saxifrages.
This moth was first described in 1835 by John Curtis as Laria rossii, who placed it in the genus Laria described by Franz von Paula Schrank in 1802; the genus Laria, however, had already been used in 1763 for a genus of beetles by Scolipi (now Pria), so the species required moving to another genus. Heinrich Benno Möschler first moved it to the genus Dasychira in his 1870 work on the moths of Labrador. Otto Staudinger also classified it in the genus Dasychira in 1901, but in 1927 William Schaus moved it to the genus Byrdia. Also in 1927 Otto Bang-Haas described the subspecies Dasychira rossii relictus from the eastern Sayan Mountains. A year later, in 1928, Shōnen Matsumura described Konokareha daisetsuzana from a single specimen from the Daisetsu mountains in Hokkaido, but in 1932 Max Gaede synonymised Konokareha daisetsuzana to Dasychira rossii relictus. In 1956 Hiroshi Inoue subsumed Konokareha daisetsuzana as an independent... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denali National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Ross' Tussock Moth sighting in Rocky Mountain National Park on a given day, based on 24 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 51st 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 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and September
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Ross' Tussock Moth in Rocky Mountain National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to May, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Ross' Tussock Moth sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Ross' Tussock Moth sightings, Rocky Mountain National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Denali National Park (United States, about 10%).
Same family: Erebidae
The closest relatives of the Ross' Tussock Moth that you can see in Rocky Mountain National Park (family Erebidae, Underwing, Tiger, Tussock, and Allied Moths) are Spotted Tussock Moth (about 30%), Police Car Moth (about 30%) and Many-Spotted Tiger Moth (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Ross' Tussock Moth is recorded against all the insects logged in Rocky Mountain National Park (24 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.
