Anthracite Bee-fly vs Painted Lady

Anthrax anthrax compared with Vanessa cardui

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Anthracite Bee-fly	Painted Lady
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class same	Insecta (Insects)	Insecta (Insects)
Order	Diptera (Diptera)	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)
Family	Bombyliidae	Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)
Genus	Anthrax	Vanessa
Species	Anthrax anthrax	Vanessa cardui

Evolutionary Relationship

Anthracite Bee-fly and Painted Lady share a common ancestor at the Class level: Insecta. (Insects)

Conservation Status

Anthracite Bee-fly

LC — Least Concern

Painted Lady

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Anthracite Bee-fly	Painted Lady
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Anthracite Bee-fly

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden.

Painted Lady

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (South Africa), Asia (Cyprus, Taiwan), Europe (41 countries), and North America (Canada, United States).

Anthracite Bee-fly

The Anthracite Bee-fly (Anthrax anthrax) is a species in the genus Anthrax. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Painted Lady

Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List. Widespread and abundant across its range, with stable populations and no immediate conservation concerns.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 5 countries:

🇧🇪 Belgium 🇩🇰 Denmark 🇳🇴 Norway 🇵🇹 Portugal 🇸🇪 Sweden