Back in January 2022, I was alerted to the fact that some Teasel seedheads are home to various species of moth larvae, and I blogged about opening three Teasel seedheads to find each one occupied by what proved to be one of the two Endothenia species of moth (Inside a Teasel seed head, 31 January 2022).

At the time of finding the larvae, I hadn’t known that I needed to check their rear ends for what’s known as an anal comb, a tiny tuft of hairs. If the anal comb is not present, then the species is Endothenia gentianaeana. If there is an anal comb, then it’s Endothenia marginana.

On a recent walk, when I found some Teasels that had been cut down, I decided to check the seedheads for any occupants. And, when I found this larva in one, I made sure to take close-up photos of its rear end – not as easy as you might think when the larva doesn’t want to co-operate. It eventually turned around, I got my shots, and, later, at home, I was able to make out an anal comb (indicated with a blue arrow in the photo below) so, as you may have guessed by the title of this blog, this is the larva of Endothenia marginana.