Leucinodes africensis is a species of moth in the family Crambidae. It is found in West Africa (Ivory Coast, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria), Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Tanzania. It has been intercepted with plant imports from Ghana and Zimbabwe to Great Britain and the Netherlands. The species was described by Richard Mally, Anastasia Korycinska, David J. L. Agassiz, Jayne Hall, Jennifer Hodgetts and Matthias Nuss in 2015.

Leucinodes africensis
Female
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Crambidae
Genus: Leucinodes
Species:
L. africensis
Binomial name
Leucinodes africensis
Mally et al., 2015
Mid instar larva
Late instar larva
Pupa

The length of the forewings is 7.5–10.5 mm for males and 7–11.5 mm for females. The wing pattern is as in Leucinodes orbonalis.

The larvae feed on Solanum aethiopicum, Solanum lycopersicum and Solanum melongena.

Etymology

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The species name is derived from the continent of Africa from where the type material originates and refers to the widespread distribution of the species on the African continent.[1]

References

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  1. ^ Mally, Richard; Korycinska, Anastasia; Agassiz, David J. L.; Hall, Jayne; Hodgetts, Jennifer; Nuss, Matthias (2015). "Discovery of an unknown diversity of Leucinodes species damaging Solanaceae fruits in sub-Saharan Africa and moving in trade (Insecta, Lepidoptera, Pyraloidea)". ZooKeys (472): 117–162. doi:10.3897/zookeys.472.8781. PMC 4304033. PMID 25632252.  This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 3.0 license.