Coast Groundling vs Three-colour Groundling

Caryocolum vicinella compared with Caryocolum tricolorella

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Coast Groundling	Three-colour Groundling
Kingdom same	Animalia (Tier)	Animalia (Tier)
Phylum same	Arthropoda (Gliederfüßer)	Arthropoda (Gliederfüßer)
Class same	Insecta (Insekten)	Insecta (Insekten)
Order same	Lepidoptera (Schmetterlinge)	Lepidoptera (Schmetterlinge)
Family same	Gelechiidae	Gelechiidae
Genus same	Caryocolum	Caryocolum
Species	Caryocolum vicinella	Caryocolum tricolorella

Evolutionary Relationship

Coast Groundling and Three-colour Groundling share a common ancestor at the Genus level: Caryocolum.

Conservation Status

Coast Groundling

LC — Least Concern

Three-colour Groundling

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Coast Groundling	Three-colour Groundling
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Coast Groundling

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

Three-colour Groundling

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden.

Coast Groundling

Coast groundling (Caryocolum vicinella) is a small moth in the family Gelechiidae, native to coastal sand dunes and sandy coastal habitats of northwestern Europe, including the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Scandinavia. Like other members of the large and taxonomically complex genus Caryocolum, the larvae are leaf miners or feeders on specific plant hosts in the pink family (Caryophyllaceae), often specialising on coastal species such as sea campion (Silene uniflora) or related plants in coastal dune systems. Adults are small, narrow-winged moths with pale ochre, brown, or grey patterning, flying at dusk and nocturally in summer. The species is associated with open, mobile or semi-stabilised coastal dunes with abundant larval host plants. Coast groundling is assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN. However, like many gelechiid moths restricted to coastal dune habitats, it may be sensitive to habitat changes caused by dune stabilisation, scrub encroachment, and reduced management of sand dune systems. Long-term population trends are difficult to assess given the cryptic nature of the species.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 3 countries:

🇧🇪 Belgium 🇩🇰 Denmark 🇸🇪 Sweden