Case-making clothes moth vs Coastal Flat-body

Tinea pellionella compared with Agonopterix yeatiana

Key Differences

Case-making clothes moth is Least Concern while Coastal Flat-body is Near Threatened.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Case-making clothes moth	Coastal Flat-body
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	Tineidae	Depressariidae
Genus	Tinea	Agonopterix
Species	Tinea pellionella	Agonopterix yeatiana

Evolutionary Relationship

Case-making clothes moth and Coastal Flat-body share a common ancestor at the Order level: Lepidoptera. (Butterflies & Moths)

View Order: Lepidoptera

Conservation Status

Case-making clothes moth

LC — Least Concern

Coastal Flat-body

NT — Near Threatened

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Case-making clothes moth	Coastal Flat-body
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Case-making clothes moth

Habitat

Inhabits deserts and xeric shrublands within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (South Africa), Asia (Taiwan, Yemen), Europe (9 countries), and North America (Canada, United States).

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.

Case-making clothes moth

The Case-making Clothes Moth (Tinea pellionella) is a species in the genus Tinea. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Inhabits deserts and xeric shrublands within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm.

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.