''Endothenia marginana'', the downland marble, is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family Tortricidae. It was described by Adrian Hardy Haworth in 1811. It is found in almost all of Europe and across the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 11–16 mm. The male can be identified by the white hind wings, but the female is difficult to determine based on its external appearance alone. Dissection of the genitalia is necessary to determine ''Endothenia'' species with certainty. The forewings pattern is dark brown, grey, black and white. In the outer part there is an irregular white cross-band that is often interrupted in the middle. The male's hind wings are characteristically silky white with brown dusting in the outer part, while the female has brown hind wings like most other ''Endothenia'' species. The larva is pale orange. Adults are on wing from late May to August.UKmoths
/ref> The larvae feed on ''

Dipsacus fullonum ''Dipsacus fullonum'', syn. ''Dipsacus sylvestris'', is a species of flowering plant known by the common names wild teasel or fuller's teasel, although the latter name is usually applied to the cultivated variety ''D. fullonum'' var. ''sativus' ...

'', ''

Betonica officinalis ''Betonica officinalis'' ( syn. ''Stachys officinalis''), commonly known as common hedgenettle, betony, purple betony, wood betony, bishopwort, or bishop's wort, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae, native to Europe, wes ...

'', ''

Galeopsis ''Galeopsis'', commonly called hemp-nettle or hempnettle, is a genus of annual herbaceous plants native to Europe and Asia. Some species are naturalized in North America and New Zealand. The plants are poisonous. Several species are widespread w ...

'' species, '' Pedicularis'' species, '' Rhinanthus'' species and ''

Plantago lanceolata ''Plantago lanceolata'' is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It is known by the common names ribwort plantain, narrowleaf plantain, English plantain, ribleaf, lamb's tongue, and buckhorn. It is a common weed on c ...

''. They feed within the seedheads of their host plant. Larvae can be found from September to June.

References

''Endothenia marginana'' in lotmoths catalog
Moths described in 1811 Endotheniini Moths of Europe Moths of Asia {{Olethreutinae-stub