small tortoiseshell vs Wild Lettuce

Aglais urticae compared with Lactuca quercina

Key Differences

• small tortoiseshell is Near Threatened while Wild Lettuce is Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	small tortoiseshell	Wild Lettuce
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	Lactuca
Species	Aglais urticae	Lactuca quercina

Conservation Status

small tortoiseshell

NT — Near Threatened

Wild Lettuce

EN — Endangered

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	small tortoiseshell	Wild Lettuce
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.

Wild Lettuce

Habitat

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

Range

Distributed across Norway, Sweden, and United States. Currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

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:

🇳🇴 Norway 🇸🇪 Sweden