small tortoiseshell vs Tape grass

Aglais urticae compared with Vallisneria spiralis

Key Differences

• small tortoiseshell is Near Threatened while Tape grass is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	small tortoiseshell	Tape grass
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Liliopsida (Monocots)
Order	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)	Alismatales (Alismatales)
Family	Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)	Hydrocharitaceae
Genus	Aglais	Vallisneria
Species	Aglais urticae	Vallisneria spiralis

Conservation Status

small tortoiseshell

NT — Near Threatened

Tape grass

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	small tortoiseshell	Tape grass
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.

Tape grass

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (Egypt, Mauritius, South Africa), Asia (5 countries), Europe (23 countries), North America (Canada, Jamaica, United States), and Oceania and the Pacific (New Zealand).

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 23 countries:

🇦🇹 Austria 🇧🇪 Belgium 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇨🇿 Czech Republic 🇫🇷 France 🇩🇪 Germany 🇭🇺 Hungary 🇮🇸 Iceland 🇮🇹 Italy 🇱🇺 Luxembourg 🇲🇩 Moldova 🇲🇪 Montenegro 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🇲🇰 North Macedonia 🇳🇴 Norway 🇵🇱 Poland 🇵🇹 Portugal 🇷🇴 Romania 🇷🇺 Russia 🇷🇸 Serbia 🇪🇸 Spain 🇨🇭 Switzerland 🇬🇧 United Kingdom