Cretan small heath
Coenonympha thyrsis Freyer, 1846
Status not recordedbutterflies and moths
The cretan small heath (Coenonympha thyrsis) is a species in the family Nymphalidae, order Lepidoptera.
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Quick facts about the cretan small heath
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 2.5 cm – 2.9 cm
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- flowers
- Habitat
- grassland
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- On the wing
- April, October
- Generations a year
- Two
- Larval food plants
- Poaceae family
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the cretan small heath?
Where does the cretan small heath live?
Not recorded
Is the cretan small heath endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the cretan small heath classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderLepidoptera
- familyNymphalidae
- genusCoenonympha
- SpeciesCoenonympha thyrsis Freyer, 1846
Synonyms Coenonympha cretica, Coenonympha stepaneki, Hipparchia thyrsis
Other names and names in other languages (3)
- Kretischer HeufalterGerman
- Fadet crétoisFrench
- KretahooibeestjeDutch
Relatives of the cretan small heath
Other species in the same genus Coenonympha.

Small heath
Coenonympha pamphilus
Pearly heath
Coenonympha arcania
Scarce heath
Coenonympha hero
False Ringlet
Coenonympha oedippus
Large heath
Coenonympha tullia
Dusky heath
Coenonympha dorus
CompareCretan small heath vs Small heathCretan small heath vs Pearly heathCretan small heath vs Scarce heathCretan small heath vs False Ringlet
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the cretan small heath?
An adult cretan small heath has a wingspan of 2.5 cm – 2.9 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
What does the cretan small heath eat?
Its recorded main food is flowers.
What kind of animal is the cretan small heath?
The cretan small heath (Coenonympha thyrsis) belongs to the family Nymphalidae in the order Lepidoptera.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
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Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Cretan small heath (Coenonympha thyrsis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/cretan-small-heath
“Cretan small heath (Coenonympha thyrsis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/cretan-small-heath.
@misc{cretan_small_heath_2026,
title = {Cretan small heath (Coenonympha thyrsis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/cretan-small-heath},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}