Danaus eresimus
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Danaus eresimus, the soldier or tropical queen, is a North American, Caribbean, and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Their flight is slow and they are reasonably easy to approach, but will fly for some distance if approached too closely.
The upperside of the wings is dark reddish brown with the forewing sometimes having white submarginal spots. The veins are lightly marked with black. Males have a black scent patch on each of the hindwings. The underside of the wings is also dark brown with a postmedian band made up of squarish spots. The soldier has a wingspan of 2+1⁄2 to 3+1⁄2 inches (64–76 mm). D. e. flexaure, formerly D. flexaure, is a subspecies which has more white markings on the hindwing underside.
Similar species in the soldier's range include the monarch (Danaus plexippus) and the queen (Danaus gilippus). The monarch is more orange, has heavier black-lined veins, and the underside of the wings is a pale yellowish color.
The queen has nearly no black-marked veins, and has white forewing submarginal spots on both surfaces of the wings. The soldier may be found in a variety of open, subtropical habitats... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Palo Verde National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 4 | Iberá National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 5 | Las Baulas Marine National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Lago de Yojoa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 7 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 9 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rosario | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 2 | Vitória | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Monterrey | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 4 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 8 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Soldier sighting in Soberanía National Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 107th most-seen of the 253 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–February and April–May
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Soldier in Soberanía National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March and June–December, the lowest months. Those are among Soberanía National Park's driest months, with about 130 mm of rain a month against 350 mm in November.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Soldier sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Soldier sightings, Soberanía National Park ranks 7th at about 10%. The best odds are in Palo Verde National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%), Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas (Brazil, about 20%) and Ría Lagartos Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Soldier is recorded against all the insects logged in Soberanía National Park (12 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.
