''Bucculatrix angustata'' is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

in the family

Bucculatricidae Bucculatricidae or (Bucculatrigidae) is a family of moths. This small family has representatives in all parts of the world. Some authors place the group as a subfamily of the family Lyonetiidae. Adults of this family are easily overlooked, bein ...

. It is found in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, where it has been recorded from the eastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. The species was first described by

Heinrich Frey Heinrich Frey (June 15, 1822 – January 17, 1890) was a German-born Swiss entomologist who studied Lepidoptera. He was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and died in Zurich, Switzerland. He is not to be confused with the dipterist Richard K ...

and

Jacob Boll Jacob Boll (28 May 1828 – 29 September 1880) was a Swiss naturalist and entomologist especially noted for his exploration of the Texas Red Beds. Boll was born 1828 in Würenlos, Switzerland, and educated as a pharmacist in Switzerland and G ...

in 1876. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 7–9 mm. The forewings are pale whitish brown to dark brown with a white longitudinal streak from the base to about half the wing length. The hindwings are pale brownish grey. Adults have been recorded on wing from April to October. The larvae feed on ''

Aster Aster or ASTER may refer to: Biology * ''Aster'' (genus), a genus of flowering plants ** List of ''Aster'' synonyms, other genera formerly included in ''Aster'' and still called asters in English * Aster (cell biology), a cellular structure shap ...

'', ''

Solidago ''Solidago'', commonly called goldenrods, is a genus of about 100 to 120''Solidago''.
F ...

'' and rarely ''

Erigeron ''Erigeron'' () is a large genus of plants in the family Asteraceae. It is closely related to the genus ''Aster'' and the true daisies in the genus ''Bellis''. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution in dry, mountainous areas and grassland, wit ...

'' species. They

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

the leaves of their host plant. The mine starts as a long, linear, gradually widening track. The larva leaves this mine, to form a second mine which is trumpet-shaped. Pupation takes place in a white cocoon.The genus Bucculatrix in America north of Mexico (Microlepidoptera)
/ref>

Etymology

The species name is derived from Latin ''angustata'' (meaning narrow).

References

Natural History Museum Lepidoptera generic names catalog
Bucculatricidae Moths described in 1876 Taxa named by Heinrich Frey Moths of North America {{Gracillarioidea-stub