Apollo vs Brown Rat

Parnassius apollo compared with Rattus norvegicus

Key Differences

• Apollo is Near Threatened while Brown Rat is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Apollo	Brown Rat
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)	Rodentia (Rodents)
Family	Papilionidae	Muridae (Mice & Rats)
Genus	Parnassius	Rattus
Species	Parnassius apollo	Rattus norvegicus

Evolutionary Relationship

Apollo and Brown Rat share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (Animals)

Conservation Status

Apollo

NT — Near Threatened

Brown Rat

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Apollo	Brown Rat
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Apollo

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Found across Europe (29 countries). Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

Brown Rat

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, among 10 distinct biome types. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (11 countries), Asia (15 countries), Europe (41 countries), North America (16 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (10 countries), and South America (10 countries).

Apollo

Apollo (Parnassius apollo) is classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List. Close to qualifying as threatened, with populations that may become vulnerable without conservation action.

Brown Rat

Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus) 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 27 countries:

🇦🇱 Albania 🇦🇹 Austria 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇧🇬 Bulgaria 🇭🇷 Croatia 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 🇩🇰 Denmark 🇫🇮 Finland 🇫🇷 France 🇩🇪 Germany 🇬🇷 Greece 🇭🇺 Hungary 🇮🇹 Italy 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🇲🇰 North Macedonia 🇳🇴 Norway 🇵🇱 Poland 🇷🇴 Romania 🇷🇺 Russia 🇷🇸 Serbia 🇸🇰 Slovakia 🇸🇮 Slovenia 🇪🇸 Spain 🇸🇪 Sweden 🇨🇭 Switzerland 🇺🇦 Ukraine