Range shifts have been documented in many organisms, and climate change has been implicated asa contributing driver of latitudinal and altitudinal range modifications. However, little is known aboutwhat species trait(s) allow for faster environmental tracking and improved capacity for distributionexpansions. We used data for 416 species of moths, and show that range limits in Sweden have shifted tothe north by on average 52.4 km per decade between 1973 and 2014. When also including non-expandingspecies, average expansion rate was 23.2 km per decade. The rate of boundary shifts increased withincreasing levels of inter-individual variation in colour patterns and decreased with increasing latitude. Theassociation with colour patterns indicate that variation in this functionally important trait enables speciesto cope with novel and changing conditions. Northern range limits also increased with average abundanceand decreased with increasing year-to-year abundance fluctuations, implicating production of dispersersas a driver of range dynamics. Studies of terrestrial animals show that rates of poleward shifts differbetween taxonomic groups, increase over time, and depend on study duration and latitude. Knowledge ofhow distribution shifts change with time, location, and species characteristics may improve projections ofresponses to climate change and aid the protection of biodiversity