Asian swordfern vs Coastal Flat-body

Nephrolepis brownii compared with Agonopterix yeatiana

Key Differences

• Asian swordfern is Not Evaluated while Coastal Flat-body is Near Threatened.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Asian swordfern	Coastal Flat-body
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Tracheophyta	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class	Polypodiopsida (Polypodiopsida)	Insecta (Insects)
Order	Polypodiales (Polypodiales)	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)
Family	Nephrolepidaceae	Depressariidae
Genus	Nephrolepis	Agonopterix
Species	Nephrolepis brownii	Agonopterix yeatiana

Conservation Status

Asian swordfern

NE — Not Evaluated

Coastal Flat-body

NT — Near Threatened

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Asian swordfern	Coastal Flat-body
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Asian swordfern

Habitat

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

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Singapore, Taiwan), North America (4 countries), and South America (Brazil, Colombia).

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.

Asian swordfern

The Asian swordfern (Nephrolepis brownii) is a species in the genus Nephrolepis. Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies. Widely distributed across Asia (Singapore, Taiwan), North America (4 countries), and South America (Brazil, Colombia).

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.