Lycaena virgaureae
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
The scarce copper (Lycaena virgaureae) is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae (copper or gossamer-winged butterflies). The lower surfaces of the back wings are yellowish and have only a few black dots; there are characteristic white marks in the immediate vicinity of these. The species exhibits one kind of sexual dimorphism: male butterflies are colored bright gold-red on the upper side of wing, while the females have broader orange wings with a dark design.
A generation appears from mid-July to mid-September. Eggs are laid on dried-out plant parts, for example on dry sorrel stems. The eggs are white in color and somewhat larger than those of other Lycaena species. The caterpillars are green and nocturnal and eat sorrel. Lycaena virgaureae is the only species of this genus whose eggs last over the winter. The butterflies feed on blossoms of such plants as the ground-elder, Eupatorium, Valeriana, and burnet saxifrage.
Lycaena virgaureae lives preferably on flower-rich, dry and damp meadows in Central Europe. In Spain it is found in the Pyrenees and in the Cantabrian Mountains. In southern France it is found in the Massif Central. Its area... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hohe Tauern National Park | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 2 | Mercantour National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Vanoise National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | Ecrins National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 7 | Picos de Europa National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 8 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 9 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 10 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 11 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 12 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 13 | Tatra National Park | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | |
| 14 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 15 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Warsaw | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 2 | Nizhny Novgorod | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 3 | Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 4 | Moscow | 🇷🇺 Russia |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Scarce Copper sighting in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park on a given day, based on 198 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 23rd most-seen of the 597 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Scarce Copper in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to May, the lowest months. That is one of Sierra de Guadarrama National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain against 110 mm in November.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Scarce Copper sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
10th of 15
Of the 15 parks where we can rate Scarce Copper sightings, Sierra de Guadarrama National Park ranks 10th at about 20%. The best odds are in Hohe Tauern National Park (Austria, about 50%), Mercantour National Park (France, about 50%) and Vanoise National Park (France, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Lycaena
The closest relatives of the Scarce Copper that you can see in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park (genus Lycaena, Lycaena butterflies) are Small Copper (about 30%), Iberian Sooty Copper (about 20%) and Purple-Shot Copper (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Scarce Copper is recorded against all the insects logged in Sierra de Guadarrama National Park (198 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.
