Data from: Discovery of an unknown diversity of Leucinodes species damaging Solanaceae fruits in sub-Saharan Africa and moving in trade (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Pyraloidea)

The larvae of the Old World genera Leucinodes Guenée, 1854 and Sceliodes
Guenée, 1854 are internal feeders in the fruits of Solanaceae, causing
economic damage to cultivated plants like Solanum melongena and S.
aethiopicum. In sub-Saharan Africa five nominal species of Leucinodes and
one of Sceliodes occur. One of these species, the eggplant fruit and shoot
borer L. orbonalis Guenée, 1854, is regarded as regularly intercepted from
Africa and Asia in Europe, North and South America and is therefore a
quarantine pest on these continents. We investigate the taxonomy of
African Leucinodes and Sceliodes based on morphological characters in wing
pattern, genitalia and larvae, as well as mitochondrial DNA, providing
these data for identification of all life stages. The results suggest that
both genera are congeneric, with Sceliodes syn. n. established as junior
subjective synonym of Leucinodes. L. orbonalis is described from Asia and
none of the samples investigated from Africa belong to this species.
Instead, sub-Saharan Africa harbours a complex of eight endemic Leucinodes
species. Among the former nominal species of Leucinodes (and Sceliodes)
from Africa, only L. laisalis (Walker, 1859), comb. n. (Sceliodes) is
confirmed, with Leucinodes translucidalis Gaede, 1917, syn. n. as a junior
subjective synonym. The other African Leucinodes species were unknown to
science and are described as new: L. africensis sp. n., L. ethiopica sp.
n., L. kenyensis sp. n., L. malawiensis sp. n., L. pseudorbonalis sp. n.,
L. rimavallis sp. n. and L. ugandensis sp. n. An identification key based
on male genitalia is provided for the African Leucinodes species. Most
imports of Leucinodes specimens from Africa into Europe refer to
Leucinodes africensis, which has been frequently imported with fruits
during the last 50 years. In contrast, L. laisalis has been much less
frequently recorded, and L. pseudorbonalis as well as L. rimavallis only
very recently in fruit imports from Uganda. Accordingly, interceptions of
Leucinodes from Africa into other continents will need to be
re-investigated for their species identity and will likely require, at
least in parts, revisions of the quarantine regulations. The following
African taxa are excluded from Leucinodes: Hyperanalyta Strand, 1918, syn.
rev. as revised synonym of Analyta Lederer, 1863; Analyta apicalis
(Hampson, 1896), comb. n. (Leucinodes); Lygropia aureomarginalis (Gaede,
1916), comb. n. (Leucinodes); Syllepte hemichionalis Mabille, 1900, comb.
rev., S. hemichionalis idalis Viette, 1958, comb. rev. and S. vagans
(Tutt, 1890), comb. n. (Aphytoceros). Deanolis iriocapna (Meyrick, 1938),
comb. n. from Indonesia is originally described and misplaced in
Sceliodes, and L. cordalis (Doubleday, 1843), comb. n. (Margaritia) from
New Zealand, L. raondry (Viette, 1981), comb. n. (Daraba) from Madagascar
as well as L. grisealis (Kenrick, 1912), comb. n. (Sceliodes) from New
Guinea are transferred from Sceliodes to Leucinodes. While Leucinodes is
now revised from Africa, it still needs further revision in Asia.