Clara's Widow vs Coastal wattle

Dingana clara compared with Acacia cyclops

Key Differences

• Clara's Widow is Endangered while Coastal wattle is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Clara's Widow	Coastal wattle
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
Order	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)	Fabales (Legumes & Allies)
Family	Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)	Fabaceae
Genus	Dingana	Acacia
Species	Dingana clara	Acacia cyclops

Conservation Status

Clara's Widow

EN — Endangered

Coastal wattle

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Clara's Widow	Coastal wattle
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Clara's Widow

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Coastal wattle

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 8 distinct biome types spanning the Afrotropic and Palearctic realms. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (13 countries), Asia (Israel), Europe (4 countries), and North America (United States).

Clara's Widow

The Clara's Widow (Dingana clara) is a species in the genus Dingana. It is currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Coastal wattle

Coastal wattle (Acacia cyclops) is a dense, fast-growing shrub in the family Fabaceae, native to the southwestern and southern coastal regions of Western Australia, from Shark Bay south to the Nullarbor Plain. It grows on coastal dunes, sandy scrubland, and limestone substrates near the sea, where it tolerates salt spray, wind, and summer drought. Coastal wattle produces distinctive circular seeds with bright red arillate coatings, making them highly attractive to birds. Although valued in its native range for coastal stabilisation and revegetation, the species has become highly invasive in southern Africa, particularly South Africa, where it was introduced for dune stabilisation in the 19th century and has since spread extensively across the Cape Floristic Region, displacing native fynbos vegetation. It is listed among the 100 worst invasive species globally by the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group. In Australia, it is assessed as Least Concern. Management of invasive populations in South Africa involves mechanical removal and biological control efforts aimed at protecting the critically threatened fynbos biome.