Leucinodes laisalis

Leucinodes laisalis is a species of moth in the family Crambidae.

Leucinodes laisalis
Female, brownish form
Female, grey form
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Crambidae
Genus:	Leucinodes
Species:	L. laisalis
Binomial name
Leucinodes laisalis (Walker, 1859)
Synonyms
Megaphysa laisalis Walker, 1859 Sceliodes laisalis Daraba laisalis Daraba idmonealis Walker, 1859 Hyamia subterminalis Walker, 1866 Leucinodes translucidalis Gaede, 1917[1] Sceliodes translucidalis

The wingspan is 20–34 mm.^[2] Females are somewhat larger. The forewing ground colour ranges from orange to grey brown.^[3]

Early-instar larva

Late-instar larva

Pupa

Distribution

It is mainly distributed in Africa, where it is known Côte d’Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Réunion, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania.^[4] It has also been recorded from Belgium, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom, which probably do not represent native occurrences of the species but rather unintended introductions along with imports of tomatoes and other Solanaceae, the species' host plants.^[3][5][6]

Larval food plants

The larvae exclusively feed on the fruits of Solanaceae. Their recorded host plants are Solanum anguivi, Solanum incanum, Solanum linnaeanum, Solanum macrocarpon, Solanum melongena, Lycopersicon esculentum and Capsicum annuum.^[7]