Bucculatrix simulans Braun 1963

Bucculatrix simulans new species (Figs. 70, 70a, 70b, 70c, 71, 71a.)
1948. Bucculatrix fusicola Breland and Schmitt (not Braun), Ent. News LIX : 225, 231-234.
Head white, tuft more or less mixed with brownish ocherous ; antennal stalk white at base, shading outwardly to pale fuscous, antennal notch of male slight. Thorax white, tegulae posteriorly ocherous. Fore wing white, less lustrous than in B. longida, markings ocherous with the scales brown-tipped in the darker specimens ; a longitudinal streak in fold from base for one-third the wing length ; in the cell, and arising just basad of the end of the streak in the fold, a similar streak runs to the end of the cell, often meeting a straight diagonal line of scales crossing the wing from costa to tornus ; this diagonal line broadens on costa, and at end of cell is marked by a group of more broadly dark-tipped scales, and at tornus meets a group of dark-tipped slightly raised scales; between the diagonal line and apex on costa, a patch of ocherous scales reaching half-way across the wing; dorsal margin near base sometimes pale ocherous, with rarely a few of the scales dark-tipped ; beyond middle of dorsal margin a large patch of darktipped scales extends across the fold and bears on the fold a few blackish-tipped raised scales ; from the group of dark-tipped scales at tornus, a line of darktipped scales along termen to apex ; a second line of scales, their dark tips near middle of cilia at tornus, converges toward the first line, nearly or quite meeting it at apex; cilia white. In several of the type series, some of the markings described above are without dark-tipped scales, and some may be obsolescent. Hind wings and cilia pale ocherous. Legs pale ocherous, fore and middle pair shaded with fuscous, hind tarsal segments fuscous-tipped. Abdomen pale ocherous, with slight fuscous shading above in the male.
Alar expanse 9.5 to 10 mm.
Male genitalia (figs. 70, 70a, 70b, 70c). Differing from B. longida only by the short aedeagus, with wide mouth, and the number of opposing teeth near mouth, this number not constant in the species (figs. 70a, 70b, 70c) ; scale sac with numerous small scales.
Female genitalia (figs. 71, 71a). Scarcely distinguishable from the female genitalia of B. longida, except by characters of the signum; signum with spines longer and more slender, some of the ribs with one long spine and several very small spines (cf. fig. 69a).
Type. — $, East St. Louis, Illinois, Helianthus animus L., IV.4.30, issued V.22.30 (Webster Grove, No. 30019c, R. C. Lange Coll.) [U.S.N.M., Type No. 65015].
Allotype. — $, same data as the type except Webster Grove No. 30019 Paratypcs. — 1 $, East St. Louis, Illinois, "in stem gall, Helianthus annuus, IV.22.30, iss. V.21.30" (Webster Grove No. 30040, R. C. Lange Coll.) [U.S.N.M.]; 1 5. Fairmount, Illinois, "sunflower, 9.27.30, iss. VI.9 " (Satterthwait Coll.) [U.S.N.M.] ; 1 $ , Austin, Texas, " sunflower, forms gall on stem, 1.6.39, em. 4.15.39" (Breland Coll.) [U.S.N.M.]; 4 $, 4 2, Austin, Texas, "summer '47, sunflower" (Schmitt Coll.) [U.S.N.M.].
In addition to the type series, there are two additional specimens (badly greased) from East St. Louis, with cocoons; also a gall with cocoon spun immediately above the gall.
The life history of this species is described and the galls and cocoons figured by Breland and Schmitt under the name Bttcculatrix fusicola Braun. The galls are somewhat variable in shape (as figured) often appearing as a swelling on the side of the stem. The larvae become full-fed in the fall passing the winter in the larval state within the gall, leaving the gall to spin and pupate in the spring; a raised ring may encircle the exit hole of the larva. Cocoons are described by Breland and Schmitt as " white to a light gray color." Cocoons accompanying the types from Illinois are pale gray with eight to ten fine ridges, some of the lateral ridges anastomosing.
This species is very close to B. longula, but differs from it in the smaller size, less lustrous fore wing with less acute apex, and more distant and diverging ciliary lines. It is possible that B. niveella Chambers (described from Texas) is a nearly immaculate form of this species.
Five specimens (3 $, 15 [U.S.N.M.], 1 2 [A.F.B.Coll.] labeled " Colorado (G. Ainslie)," are doubtfully assigned to this species on the basis of the short aedeagus (fig. 70c). The aspect of these specimens, which are in poor condition, is that of B. longula, with which they agree in size and configuration of the ciliary lines.