small tortoiseshell vs Smooth Stonewort

Aglais urticae compared with Nitella flexilis

Key Differences

• small tortoiseshell is Near Threatened while Smooth Stonewort is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	small tortoiseshell	Smooth Stonewort
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Charophyta (Charophyta)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Charophyceae (Charophyceae)
Order	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)	Charales (Charales)
Family	Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)	Characeae
Genus	Aglais	Nitella
Species	Aglais urticae	Nitella flexilis

Conservation Status

small tortoiseshell

NT — Near Threatened

Smooth Stonewort

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	small tortoiseshell	Smooth Stonewort
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 Stonewort

Habitat

Native to Europe and North America and South America, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Distributed across Brazil, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and United States.

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 3 countries:

🇩🇰 Denmark 🇳🇴 Norway 🇸🇪 Sweden