Theory posits that species with inter-individual variation in colour patterns should beless vulnerable to extinction, compared with species that do not vary in colour. Toevaluate this prediction, we explored whether differences in colour pattern diversitywas associated with extinction risk, using red-list status for more than 350 species ofnoctuid moths in Sweden. We also evaluated six other species characteristics thathave been proposed to influence extinction risk namely: host plant niche breadth,habitat type, area of occupancy, body size, overwintering life-history stage and lengthof flight activity period. We found that species with variable colour patterns hadreduced extinction risk overall compared with species having non-variable colourpatterns, and that this difference was pronounced more strongly among species havingsmaller areas of occupancy. There were also significant associations with hostplant niche breadth and habitat type, extinction risk being lower on average in polyphagousspecies and in generalist species that occupied different habitat types. Thesefindings represent the first evidence for insects that variable colouration is associatedwith reduced extinction risks. Information on colour pattern variation is readily availablefor many taxa and may be used as a cost-effective proxy for endangerment inthe work of halting national and global biodiversity loss.