Pyronia cecilia
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Pyronia cecilia, the southern gatekeeper, is a butterfly of Southern Europe and North Africa. It is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae in the family Nymphalidae. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Gatekeeper 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 132nd most-seen of the 479 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 30% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Gatekeeper in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, against under 5% in October to May, the lowest months. That is one of Sierra Nevada National Park's driest months, with about 30 mm of rain against 130 mm in March.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Southern Gatekeeper sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Southern Gatekeeper sightings, Sierra Nevada National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Monfragüe National Park (Spain, about 20%).
Same genus: Pyronia
The closest relatives of the Southern Gatekeeper that you can see in Sierra Nevada National Park (genus Pyronia, gatekeepers) are Spanish Gatekeeper (about 20%) and Gatekeeper (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Southern Gatekeeper 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.
