Button Dodder vs Coastal Flat-body

Cuscuta cephalanthi compared with Agonopterix yeatiana

Key Differences

• Button Dodder is Not Evaluated while Coastal Flat-body is Near Threatened.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Button Dodder	Coastal Flat-body
Kingdom	Plantae (thực vật)	Animalia (động vật)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Arthropoda (động vật Chân khớp)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Insecta (côn trùng)
Order	Solanales (Bộ Cà)	Lepidoptera (bộ Cánh vảy)
Family	Convolvulaceae	Depressariidae
Genus	Cuscuta	Agonopterix
Species	Cuscuta cephalanthi	Agonopterix yeatiana

Conservation Status

Button Dodder

NE — Not Evaluated

Coastal Flat-body

NT — Near Threatened

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Button Dodder	Coastal Flat-body
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Button Dodder

Habitat

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

Range

Distributed across Canada and United States.

Coastal Flat-body

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden. Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

Button Dodder

The Button Dodder (Cuscuta cephalanthi) is a species in the genus Cuscuta. Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Coastal Flat-body

Agonopterix yeatiana, the coastal flat-body, is a small moth in the family Depressariidae native to coastal and calcareous grassland habitats across western and northern Europe, with records from Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden. Moths in the family Depressariidae, commonly called flat-body moths due to the depressed posture they adopt when resting with wings held flat against the surface, are associated predominantly with umbellifer plants of the family Apiaceae as larval hosts. Agonopterix yeatiana larvae feed on wild carrot (Daucus carota), wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa), and related coastal and grassland Apiaceae species, inhabiting the open, often calcareous or sandy habitats where these plants grow. Adult moths have greyish-brown forewing with a distinctive pattern of spots and dashes and reach approximately 8–12 millimeters in wingspan. The species is classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN, reflecting declines associated with the loss of traditional hay meadow management, coastal grassland degradation, and scrub encroachment that eliminates the open, flower-rich grassland habitats supporting its host plants. Agricultural intensification has reduced wild umbellifer populations significantly across lowland Europe, reducing food resources for larvae of specialist moths like A. yeatiana.