Bucculatrix inusitata Braun 1963

Bucculatrix inusitata new species (Figs. 76, 76a, 76b, 76c, 77, 77a..)
Head white, tuft with a few brownish hairs ; antennal eye-cap white, stalk pale grayish ocherous, darker toward tip, antennal notch deep. Thorax white. Fore wings lustrous white, markings ocherous, the scales usually more or less broadly dark-tipped; from just beyond base to one-third, a pale longitudinal streak, often faint or absent, its inner margin lying along the fold; from basal third of costa, an oblique streak curving outward below costa, and usually meeting a second oblique costal streak attenuated below costa and extending as a narrow line across the wing to a small group of black-tipped raised scales on termen near tornus; at two-thirds of costa, an irregular spot of variable size, its dark-tipped scales often encroaching on a triangular more or less conspicuous white area immediately before apex and partially in the cilia ; this triangular area extends across the wing to the group of dark-tipped raised scales near tornus, and along its outer margin the smooth lustrous white scales of the general ground color form a narrow, almost irridescent bar lying alongside of the black-tipped scales which margin the termen ; a second line of scales in the cilia, their dark tips at about basal third of cilia and curving inward near apex toward the terminal line of black-tipped scales ; from middle of dorsum a more or less distinct oblique streak, marked on the fold by one to several black-tipped scales (sometimes absent), curves to the middle of the wing; from tornus, a faint nearly erect line of scales, often absent, crosses the wing to the oblique transverse line of dark-tipped scales ; cilia white before apex, fuscous tinged opposite apex shading to white at tornus. Hind wings and cilia grayish ocherous. Legs dull ocherous, shaded with fuscous. Abdomen in female ocherous, in male fuscous, except anal tuft.
Alar expanse 9.5 to 10 mm.
Male genitalia (figs. 76, 76a, 76b, 76c). Harpes bilobed on inner side at apex, the lobes with heavy setae, sinus between them unarmed ; socii long, slightly enlarging at apex and here with sparse slender setae, proximad of apex, setae short and curved ; subscaphium strongly sclerotized, long ciliate ; free arms of gnathos long, slender, short setose on their basal half ; anellus an elongate cone ; aedeagus tapering to the slender tip. Scale sac present.
Female genitalia (figs. 77, 77a). Ovipositor lobes sparsely long setose; ostium unspecialized ; ductus bursae forked in segment 7, the forks entering bursa dorsally near its posterior end ; signum a ring broad ventrally, narrow dorsally, spines long and slender.
Type.— $, Hull, Quebec, 13.VI.1955 ( G. G. Lewis) [C.N.Coll.. Type No. 7175].
Allotype— 2. Wakefield. Quebec, 25.VI.1946 (G. S. Walley ) [C.N.Coll., Type No. 7175].
Paratypcs.— S, Bobcaygeon, Ont, 26.VI.1932 (J. McDunnough), 2 8, Hull, Que., 13.VI.1955 (G. G. Lewis), 1 S, 1 9, Ottawa, Ont, 23.VI.1955 (G. G. Lewis) [C.N.Coll.]; 1 8, Bar Harbor, Maine, July 16, 1938 (A. E. Brower), 1 8, Bar Harbor. Maine, emgd. June 22, '50, "bred ex Juniperus communis" (A. E. Brower). 1 6, Mt. Desert Is., Me., July 2, '34 (A. E. Brower), 2 6 , 2 2, Augusta, Maine, June 27 to Aug. 3 (A. E. Brower) [A. E. Brower Coll.]; 17 6,3 2, Barnstable, Mass., June 25 to July 13 (C. P. Kimball) [C. P. Kimball Coll.] ; 2 $, Monroe Co., N. Y., June 23 and July 4 (C. P. Kimball) [C. P. Kimball Coll.] ; 1 8,1 2, New Lisbon, N. J., June 11 and June 18 (E. P. Darlington) [A.N.S.P.] ; 1 2, Essex Co. Pk., N. J., June 20 (W. D. Kearfott) [U.S.N.M.] ; 1 8,1 2, Edge Hill, Pa., June 23 (F. Haimbach), 1 8, Fairm't, Phila., Pa., June 9 (F. Haimbach), 1 8, Roxborough, Pa., June 26, (F. Haimbach) [A.N.S.P.].
Only those specimens in which the distinctive characters of the wing markings are recognizable are included in the type series. In addition, 14 others, mostly from Maine and Massachusetts, representing both sexes have been examined. These can of course be recognized by the characteristic genitalia, especially of the male.
No data are available on the early stages of this species. One of the paratypes cited above from Bar Harbor, Maine, bears the notation " Bred ex Juniperus communis." Dr. Brower has assured me that such a label indicates that the specimen was actually reared from larva. Any conifer, particularly an evergreen species, would seem to be an
unusual food plant for a species of Biicculatrix placed in this section on wing markings and genitalia. It may not be correctly placed in this section.
The series of specimens from Ontario and Quebec, from which the type and allotype were selected are in exceptionally perfect condition. The best distinguishing wing characters of the species are the pure white triangular costal area before apex, and especially, the narrow lustrous white bar along termen, which stands out sharply when light strikes it at an angle. The remarkable development and specialization of subscaphium and gnathos is unique in this section and exceptional in the genus.

Bucculatrix inusitata is a moth in the family Bucculatricidae. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from Quebec, Ontario, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey. It was described in 1963 by Annette Frances Braun.

The wingspan is 9.5–10 mm.

The larvae possibly feed on Juniperus communis.