Endothenia gentianaeana

Endothenia gentianaeana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Clade:	Pancrustacea
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Tortricidae
Genus:	Endothenia
Species:	E. gentianaeana
Binomial name
Endothenia gentianaeana (Hubner, 1799)
Synonyms
Tortrix gentianaeana Hubner, 1799 Penthina oblongana var. adelana Rebel, 1892 Grapholitha desertana Staudinger, 1880 Eucosma eremodora Meyrick, 1932 Apotomis gentianana Hubner, 1816 Penthina sellana var. oxybiana Milliere, 1874 Tortrix sellana Frolich, 1828

Endothenia gentianaeana is a moth of the family Tortricidae. It is found from most of Europe, east to Korea and the Near East. It is also found in North America and Hawaii.

The wingspan is 15–19 mm. Adults are on wing in June and July in western Europe.

The larvae feed on the pith of the seedhead of Dipsacus fullonum (a teasel).

This species was identified as a strong candidate by researchers in Slovakia (2003-2004) who were looking for useful biological control agents, as teasels are strongly-invasive weeds in some areas outside of their native range, such as parts the United States' Midwest. As it only feeds on teasel this moth carries little of the risk the introduction of new species can carry in terms of unwanted predation of other, non-target species. The researchers were able to rear large numbers of caterpillars in their testing and also identified this species as being present on nearly 100% of the teasel plants identified in the field. Despite this result, the USDA has not approved this moth for introduction as of February 2018 and it does not appear to be under further consideration.

External links

• Images
• Fauna Europaea
• Media related to Endothenia gentianaeana at Wikimedia Commons
• Data related to Endothenia gentianaeana at Wikispecies