small tortoiseshell vs White-winged Tern

Aglais urticae compared with Chlidonias leucopterus

Key Differences

• small tortoiseshell is Near Threatened while White-winged Tern is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	small tortoiseshell	White-winged Tern
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Lepidoptera (Butterflies & Moths)	Charadriiformes (Charadriiformes)
Family	Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)	Laridae
Genus	Aglais	Chlidonias
Species	Aglais urticae	Chlidonias leucopterus

Evolutionary Relationship

small tortoiseshell and White-winged Tern share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (Animals)

Conservation Status

small tortoiseshell

NT — Near Threatened

White-winged Tern

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	small tortoiseshell	White-winged Tern
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.

White-winged Tern

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Taiwan), Europe (4 countries), and North America (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.

White-winged Tern

White-winged Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus) is classified as Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List. Not yet evaluated against IUCN Red List criteria. Conservation status remains to be determined.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 4 countries:

🇧🇪 Belgium 🇩🇰 Denmark 🇳🇴 Norway 🇸🇪 Sweden