Charaxes bernardus
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Charaxes bernardus, the tawny rajah, is a butterfly that belongs to the rajahs and nawabs group, that is, the Charaxinae group of the brush-footed butterflies family. This species can be found in India, China, Indomalaya, and onwards to Indonesia.
Charaxes bernardus has a wingspan of about 7–9 centimetres (2.8–3.5 in). The upperside of wings is reddish brown or pale brown-orange, with dark brown/black speckles at the wings tips and small black marks at the margin of the hindwings. On the underside of the wings there are irregular wavy or tawny brown speckles and whitish zigzag bands. Males and females are very similar in appearance.
It has been recorded as a migrant in South India and is known to mud-puddle. Known food plants of this species include: Aglaia lawii, Aglaia roxburghiana (Meliaceae), Cinnamomum camphora, Litsea glutinosa, Litsea populifolia (Lauraceae), Sapium sebiferum (Euphorbiaceae), Adenanthera pavonina, Paraserianthes falcataria (= Falcataria moluccana), Tamarindus indica (Leguminosae), and Acronychia penduculata (Rutaceae).
Charaxes bernardus bernardus – present in China and Hong Kong Charaxes bernardus... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Namdapha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Cuc Phuong National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 3 | Cat Tien National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 4 | Kinabalu Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 5 | Sepilok | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 6 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 7 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Tawny Rajah sighting in Sepilok on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 68th most-seen of the 87 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.
March
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Tawny Rajah in Sepilok on a given day, against under 5% in May, July, September and November–February, the lowest months. That is one of Sepilok's driest months, with about 170 mm of rain against 400 mm in November.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Tawny Rajah sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 7
Of the 7 parks where we can rate Tawny Rajah sightings, Sepilok ranks 5th at about 10%. The best odds are in Namdapha National Park (India, about 40%), Cuc Phuong National Park (Vietnam, about 40%) and Cat Tien National Park (Vietnam, about 10%).
Same family: Nymphalidae
The closest relatives of the Tawny Rajah that you can see in Sepilok (family Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies) are Clipper (about 40%), Brown Pansy (about 30%) and Great Eggfly (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Tawny Rajah is recorded against all the insects logged in Sepilok (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.
