Beautiful Groundling vs Coast Groundling

Caryocolum marmorea compared with Caryocolum vicinella

Key Differences

Beautiful Groundling is Endangered while Coast Groundling is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Beautiful Groundling	Coast Groundling
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class same	Insecta (Insects)	Insecta (Insects)
Order same	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)
Family same	Gelechiidae	Gelechiidae
Genus same	Caryocolum	Caryocolum
Species	Caryocolum marmorea	Caryocolum vicinella

Evolutionary Relationship

Beautiful Groundling and Coast Groundling share a common ancestor at the Genus level: Caryocolum.

View Genus: Caryocolum

Conservation Status

Beautiful Groundling

EN — Endangered

Coast Groundling

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Beautiful Groundling	Coast Groundling
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Beautiful Groundling

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Coast Groundling

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

Beautiful Groundling

The Beautiful Groundling (Caryocolum marmorea) is a species in the genus Caryocolum. It is currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Coast Groundling

Coast groundling (Caryocolum vicinella) is a small moth in the family Gelechiidae, native to coastal sand dunes and sandy coastal habitats of northwestern Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Scandinavia. Like other members of the large and taxonomically complex genus Caryocolum, the larvae are leaf miners or feeders on specific plant hosts in the pink family (Caryophyllaceae), often specialising on coastal species such as sea campion (Silene uniflora) or related plants in coastal dune systems. Adults are small, narrow-winged moths with pale ochre, brown, or grey patterning, flying at dusk and nocturally in summer. The species is associated with open, mobile or semi-stabilised coastal dunes with abundant larval host plants. Coast groundling is assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN. However, like many gelechiid moths restricted to coastal dune habitats, it may be sensitive to habitat changes caused by dune stabilisation, scrub encroachment, and reduced management of sand dune systems. Long-term population trends are difficult to assess given the cryptic nature of the species.