Alpine Bladder-fern vs Coastal Flat-body

Cystopteris alpina compared with Agonopterix yeatiana

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Alpine Bladder-fern	Coastal Flat-body
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Tracheophyta	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class	Polypodiopsida (Polypodiopsida)	Insecta (Insects)
Order	Polypodiales (Polypodiales)	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)
Family	Cystopteridaceae	Depressariidae
Genus	Cystopteris	Agonopterix
Species	Cystopteris alpina	Agonopterix yeatiana

Conservation Status

Alpine Bladder-fern

NT — Near Threatened

Coastal Flat-body

NT — Near Threatened

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Alpine Bladder-fern	Coastal Flat-body
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Alpine Bladder-fern

Habitat

Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies.

Range

Distributed across Norway and Sweden. Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

Coastal Flat-body

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden. Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

Alpine Bladder-fern

The Alpine Bladder-fern (Cystopteris alpina) is a species in the genus Cystopteris. It is currently classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies. Distributed across Norway and Sweden. Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

Coastal Flat-body

Agonopterix yeatiana, the coastal flat-body, is a small moth in the family Depressariidae native to coastal and calcareous grassland habitats across western and northern Europe, with records from Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden. Moths in the family Depressariidae, commonly called flat-body moths due to the depressed posture they adopt when resting with wings held flat against the surface, are associated predominantly with umbellifer plants of the family Apiaceae as larval hosts. Agonopterix yeatiana larvae feed on wild carrot (Daucus carota), wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa), and related coastal and grassland Apiaceae species, inhabiting the open, often calcareous or sandy habitats where these plants grow. Adult moths have greyish-brown forewing with a distinctive pattern of spots and dashes and reach approximately 8–12 millimeters in wingspan. The species is classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN, reflecting declines associated with the loss of traditional hay meadow management, coastal grassland degradation, and scrub encroachment that eliminates the open, flower-rich grassland habitats supporting its host plants. Agricultural intensification has reduced wild umbellifer populations significantly across lowland Europe, reducing food resources for larvae of specialist moths like A. yeatiana.