small tortoiseshell vs Spanish-needles

Aglais urticae compared with Bidens bipinnata

Key Differences

• small tortoiseshell is Near Threatened while Spanish-needles is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	small tortoiseshell	Spanish-needles
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
Order	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)	Asterales (Daisies & Sunflowers)
Family	Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)	Asteraceae (Daisy Family)
Genus	Aglais	Bidens
Species	Aglais urticae	Bidens bipinnata

Conservation Status

small tortoiseshell

NT — Near Threatened

Spanish-needles

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	small tortoiseshell	Spanish-needles
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.

Spanish-needles

Habitat

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

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (10 countries), Asia (5 countries), Europe (19 countries), North America (Canada), Oceania and the Pacific (Australia), 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 19 countries:

🇦🇹 Austria 🇧🇪 Belgium 🇧🇬 Bulgaria 🇭🇷 Croatia 🇩🇰 Denmark 🇪🇪 Estonia 🇫🇷 France 🇬🇷 Greece 🇭🇺 Hungary 🇮🇹 Italy 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🇳🇴 Norway 🇷🇴 Romania 🇷🇺 Russia 🇸🇮 Slovenia 🇪🇸 Spain 🇸🇪 Sweden 🇨🇭 Switzerland 🇬🇧 United Kingdom