Clouded Apollo vs Common Kidney-Vetch

Parnassius mnemosyne compared with Anthyllis vulneraria

Key Differences

Clouded Apollo is Near Threatened while Common Kidney-Vetch is Vulnerable.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Clouded Apollo	Common Kidney-Vetch
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
Order	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)	Fabales (Legumes & Allies)
Family	Papilionidae	Fabaceae
Genus	Parnassius	Anthyllis
Species	Parnassius mnemosyne	Anthyllis vulneraria

Conservation Status

Clouded Apollo

NT — Near Threatened

Common Kidney-Vetch

VU — Vulnerable

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Clouded Apollo	Common Kidney-Vetch
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Clouded Apollo

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Found across Europe (33 countries). Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

Common Kidney-Vetch

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, and temperate coniferous forests, among 6 distinct biome types spanning the Indomalayan and Oceanian and Palearctic realms. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (Libya), Asia (Japan), Europe (9 countries), North America (Canada, United States), and Oceania and the Pacific (Australia). Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Clouded Apollo

Clouded Apollo (Parnassius mnemosyne) 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.

Common Kidney-Vetch

Common Kidney-Vetch (<em>Anthyllis vulneraria</em>) is a flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae, assessed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List due to habitat degradation and agricultural intensification across parts of its range. It is widely distributed across Africa (Libya), Asia (Japan), Europe (nine countries), North America (Canada and the United States), and Oceania (Australia), occupying six distinct biome types and occurring within the Indomalayan and Oceanian biogeographic realms. The species typically grows in dry, calcareous grasslands, coastal cliffs, sand dunes, and rocky slopes, often favoring nutrient-poor soils. It is an important larval food plant for certain butterfly species, particularly the Small Blue butterfly in Europe, and contributes to soil fertility through nitrogen fixation via root nodules. Its cheerful yellow, orange, or red flower heads make it a recognizable component of chalk and limestone grassland communities. Biological traits of this species remain poorly documented in the scientific literature.