Belenois aurota
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
Belenois aurota, the pioneer or pioneer white or caper white, is a small to medium-sized butterfly of the family Pieridae—that is, the yellows and whites—which is found in South Asia, West Asia and Africa. In Africa, it is also known as the brown-veined white, and is well known during summer and autumn when large numbers migrate north-east over the interior.
The upperside of males is white with the forewing having the costa from base to base of vein 11 dusky black and then jet black continuing into a widened and curving short streak along the discocellulars to the lower apex of the cell; apical area diagonally with the termen black, the former with six elongate outwardly pointed spots of the ground colour enclosed one in each of the interspaces 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9. Hindwing: uniform, the black along the venation on the underside seen through by transparency; termen between veins 2 and 6 somewhat broadly black, with a series of four round spots of the ground colour in the interspaces; below vein 2 and above vein 6 the termen is very narrowly black. Underside: forewing white, markings similar, more clearly defined, the white spots within the black... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jodhpur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 3 | New Delhi | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Hyderabad | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Kanpur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Agra | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Salem | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Jabalpur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Pune | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Coimbatore | 🇮🇳 India |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Pioneer White sighting in Waterberg Plateau Park on a given day, based on 16 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 2nd most-seen of the 24 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and June
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Pioneer White in Waterberg Plateau Park on a given day, against about 10% in September and October, the lowest months. Those are among Waterberg Plateau Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 110 mm in January.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pioneer White sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 24 parks where we can rate Pioneer White sightings, Waterberg Plateau Park has the highest daily chance: about 50%. Next come Ruaha National Park (Tanzania, about 40%) and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (South Africa, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Pieridae
The closest relatives of the Pioneer White that you can see in Waterberg Plateau Park (family Pieridae, Whites, Yellows, and Sulphurs) are Eastern Dotted Border (about 60%), Zebra White (about 40%) and Bushveld Purple Tip (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pioneer White is recorded against all the insects logged in Waterberg Plateau Park (16 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.
