Parasemia plantaginis
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Arctia plantaginis, the wood tiger, is a moth of the family Erebidae. Several subspecies are found in the Holarctic ecozone south to Anatolia, Transcaucasus, northern Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, Korea and Japan. One subspecies is endemic to North America.
This species was formerly a member of the genus Parasemia, but was moved to Arctia along with the other species of the genera Acerbia, Pararctia, Parasemia, Platarctia, and Platyprepia. P. plantaginis males occur predominantly in two distinct color phenotypes: yellow and white. They are aposematic, meaning their colorations serve to deter predators from attacking. In populations of aposematic species, it is common to have a single coloration phenotype dominate, because predators better learn to avoid the more common phenotype and rare phenotypes suffer higher predation. Rare phenotypes are often selected against because predators are less familiar with their aposematic signal. Thus, other selective pressures exist to perpetuate weaker aposematic signals in exchange for other adaptive benefits. P. plantaginis has become a common model for studying the counteracting selective pressures of predation, mate choice, immune function, thermoregulation, and more. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 2 | Tatra National Park | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | |
| 3 | Elk Island National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 6 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 7 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 8 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 9 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 10 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Wood Tiger sighting in Rocky Mountain National Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 161st most-seen of the 191 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and July
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Wood Tiger in Rocky Mountain National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to May, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Wood Tiger sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
10th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Wood Tiger sightings, Rocky Mountain National Park ranks 10th at under 5%. The best odds are in Hohe Tauern National Park (Austria, about 20%), Tatra National Park (Slovakia, about 20%) and Elk Island National Park (Canada, about 20%).
Same family: Erebidae
The closest relatives of the Wood Tiger 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 Wood Tiger is recorded against all the insects logged in Rocky Mountain National Park (6 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.
