small tortoiseshell vs Water Chickweed

Aglais urticae compared with Stellaria aquatica

Key Differences

• small tortoiseshell is Near Threatened while Water Chickweed is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	small tortoiseshell	Water Chickweed
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
Order	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)	Caryophyllales (Caryophyllales)
Family	Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)	Caryophyllaceae
Genus	Aglais	Stellaria
Species	Aglais urticae	Stellaria aquatica

Conservation Status

small tortoiseshell

NT — Near Threatened

Water Chickweed

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	small tortoiseshell	Water Chickweed
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.

Water Chickweed

Habitat

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

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Norway, Taiwan, 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 2 countries:

🇧🇪 Belgium 🇳🇴 Norway