Bucculatrix polymniae Braun 1963

Bucculatrix polymniae new species Face creamy white, hairs of tuft creamy white, fulvous and dark brown ; eye-caps cream}white, antennal notch of male absent, replaced by a scarcely perceptible excavation, and thus this segment more slender than the succeeding segments and more slender than the corresponding segment of the female, stalk dark brown with narrow pale annulations. Thorax and fore wings brown, the wings darkest brown between the silvery streaks. From base of wing (fig. 9), a straight ocherous streak, parallel to fold, for two-thirds the wing length ; from costa near base a very oblique ocherous streak joins the longitudinal streak at about one-fourth the wing length, thus enclosing a small patcli of ground color ; before middle of costa, an oblique silvery streak, a similar, but less oblique silvery streak at two-thirds ; before middle of dorsum, a curved ocherous streak, more or less overlaid with silvery scales, is followed by a patch of blackish raised scales ; before tornus, a very oblique silvery spot, and at tornus, an inwardly oblique narrow streak, its apex opposite the apex of the second silvery costal streak ; a few silvery scales at apex ; in cilia above apex, a creamy white triangular patch ; a line of black overlapping scales extending obliquely from apex to tip of cilia; cilia gray, with a line of dark-tipped scales extending through them from tornus and curving in at apex to the base of the line of black scales from apex. Hind wings and cilia gray. Legs dark brown, hind tibiae,
except spurs and apical hairs, whitish ocherous and clothed with whitish ocherous hairs. Abdomen dark brown above, somewhat paler beneath, especially in male.
Alar expanse 6 to 7 mm.
Male genitalia (figs. 132, 132a). Harpe broad apically, indistinctly bilobed at apex, lobes with strong heavy short setae ; socii large, with heavy curved setae ; uncus present, narrow pointed, microscopically setose ; anellus an elongate tube, aedeagus long, gradually narrowing and curving to apex ; vinculum produced anteriorly to a rounded point. Scale sac large.
Female genitalia (figs. 133, 133a). Ostium circular, ductus bursae forked in segment 7, the forks entering bursa separately ; lateral to ostium, oval patches of specialized scales on intersegmental membrane ; posterior ventral margin of 7 with lateral pointed projections and a quadrate projection mid-ventrally ; signum a ring of spined ribs, the ribs irregularly spined, an occasional spine conspicuously larger (fig. 133a).
Type. — S, Clack Mountain, Rowan County, Kentucky, from larva on leaves of Polymnia uvedalia L., collected August 26, 1946, rearing record B.2101, imago September 8, 1946 (A. F. Braun) [A.F.B.Coll.].
Paratypes. — 5 5,52, same data as the type, except dates of emergence September 3 to September 9 ; 1 $ , 1 2 , larvae collected October 4, rearing record B.2101, imagoes March 29, 1946; 5 $, 13 5, Fort Hill, Highland County, Ohio, from larvae collected August 24 on leaves of Polymnia uvedalia L., rearing record B.2221, imagoes September 1 to September 6, 1955; 1 $, 3 2, Fort Hill, Highland County, Ohio, rearing record B. 2221b, imagoes March 29 to April 11, 1957 ; 1 2 , Fort Hill, Highland County, Ohio, larva collected June 28, rearing record B.2221a, imago July 5, 1956; 1 2, Pike Lake, Pike County, Ohio, larva on Polymnia uvedalia, collected October 2, rearing record B.2204, imago March 30, 1954 (A. F. Braun) [A.F.B.Coll.].
Bucciilatrix polytnniae is confined to Polymnia uvedalia L. as a food plant, and the larvae, especially of the late summer and fall generations, may be present in great numbers. Three generations a year : larvae mining in June only in the lowest pair of leaves and producing imagoes in early July ; a second generation of larvae in the latter part of August producing imagoes in early September; a third generation feeding in October, passing the winter in the pupal state with imagoes in early spring.
The egg (fig. 36) deposited on the upper surface of the leaf, is ovate, tapering slightly toward the micropylar end, its surface marked with brilliantly iridescent wavy bars and knobs, the knobs arranged in concentric arcs toward the micropylar end. On the very thin leaves of the food plant the irregularly winding mines may be as much as 5 or 6 cm. long, with a fine central line of frass. The white papery moulting cocoons are spun on the underside of the leaf. The leaves are skeletonized in irregular patches ; in the last instar the larva may consume an area of 2 square centimeters. The larvae are pale green with a faint reddish tinge anteriorly, nearly concolorous with the under surface of the leaf.
The white cocoons, often spun against the midrib or near the base of the petiole, are short, rounded at either end, with two prominent ridges twisted diagonally, and sometimes a partial third ridge (fig. 47).
The apical pencil of overlapping scales (easily lost) and the ciliary line incurving to apex of the wing are unique and distinctive characters.
B. polxmniae is closely allied to B. eupatoriclla in larval habits, in wing markings, and in genitalia of both sexes, but with the female genitalia somewhat more specialized.

Bucculatrix polymniae is a moth in the family Bucculatricidae. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from Kentucky and Ohio. It was first described in 1963 by Annette Frances Braun.

The wingspan is about 6–7 mm.

The larvae feed on Polymnia uvedalia. They mine the leaves of their host plant.