Polyommatus nivescens
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
Polyommatus nivescens, the mother-of-pearl blue, is a species of butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Spain. It is a small butterfly is sexual dimorphic. The upperside of the male is very clear, with just a bluish beige reflection bordered by a thin grey line and a marginal line of small grey dots. The female upperside is brown, decorated with a marginal line of large orange maculae bordering the hindwings and part of the forewings. Both have a white fringe. The underside is light ochre marked with a marginal line of white lunules topped with orange, and adorned with a line of black dots circled in white very marked on the fore.
In Seitz it is described thus nivescens Kef. (= albicans Dup.& Gerh.) (80 i) is a form [of Polyommatus dorylas ] flying in Spain on limestone. The upperside of the male is dull grey-violet with a white silky gloss, similar to dolus, menalcas and coridon albicans. — Larva very similar to that of icarus, dark green, with black head, blackish dorsal line and yellow side-stripe; at each side of the dorsal line yellowish smears.
It favours dry, scrubby calcareous rock sites. The larvae feed on Anthyllis vulneraria. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mother-Of-Pearl Blue sighting in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, based on 13 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 475th most-seen of the 479 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.
June and July
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mother-Of-Pearl Blue in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, against under 5% in August to May, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mother-Of-Pearl Blue sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
Only Sierra Nevada National Park, in our data
Sierra Nevada National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Mother-Of-Pearl Blue sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Polyommatus
The closest relatives of the Mother-Of-Pearl Blue that you can see in Sierra Nevada National Park (genus Polyommatus) are Austaut's Blue (about 20%) and Common Blue (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mother-Of-Pearl Blue is recorded against all the insects logged in Sierra Nevada National Park (13 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.
