small tortoiseshell vs smooth heliotrope

Aglais urticae compared with Heliotropium curassavicum

Key Differences

• small tortoiseshell is Near Threatened while smooth heliotrope is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	small tortoiseshell	smooth heliotrope
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
Order	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)	Boraginales (Boraginales)
Family	Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)	Heliotropiaceae
Genus	Aglais	Heliotropium
Species	Aglais urticae	Heliotropium curassavicum

Conservation Status

small tortoiseshell

NT — Near Threatened

smooth heliotrope

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	small tortoiseshell	smooth heliotrope
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

small tortoiseshell

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Found across Europe (41 countries). Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

smooth heliotrope

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (6 countries), Asia (5 countries), Europe (13 countries), North America (Cuba), Oceania and the Pacific (Australia, Marshall Islands), and South America (Brazil, Colombia).

small tortoiseshell

small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) 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.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 13 countries:

🇦🇱 Albania 🇧🇪 Belgium 🇩🇰 Denmark 🇫🇷 France 🇬🇷 Greece 🇮🇹 Italy 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🇳🇴 Norway 🇵🇹 Portugal 🇷🇴 Romania 🇪🇸 Spain 🇸🇪 Sweden 🇬🇧 United Kingdom