Endothenia Stephens, 1852

Razowski, Józef & Brown, John W., 2012, Descriptions of new Tortricidae (Lepidoptera) reared from native fruit in Kenya, Zootaxa 3222, pp. 1-27 : 5-6

Endothenia Stephens, 1852

Type species: Tortrix gentianaeana Hübner , [1799]

Endothenia is widely distributed in the Holarctic, Oriental, and Australian regions, encompassing 48 described species ( Brown 2005, Horak 2006). Four species are recorded from the Afrotropical region: E. alpigena Bradley, 1965 , E. euryteles ( Meyrick, 1936) , E. nephelopsycha (Meyrick, 1934) , and E. vasculigera Meyrick, 1938 . Razowski (1989) reviewed the Palearctic members, and Dang (1990) reviewed and critiqued the tribal assignment of Endothenia and relatives (formerly Endotheniini ), providing compelling evidence that the genus should be included in Bactrini .

The genus is morphologically well defined, with highly derived male genitalia that feature a distally spined, club-shaped uncus and distally slender valvae with a spiny process from the ventral part of the basal excavation ( Horak 2006). The signum in the female genitalia is usually a small, scobinate, pocket-shaped, invaginated plate.

The larvae of Endothenia are borers in the stalks, roots, seeds and fruit of numerous families of flowering plants including Acanthaceae , Asteraceae , Dipsacaceae , Gentianaceae , Lamiaceae , Plantaginaceae , Ranunculaceae , and Scrophulariaceae (Brown et al. 2011) .