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 Solanum
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 Leucinodes
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. Leucinodes
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 Leucinodes
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: Leucinodes
africensis
sp. n., Leucinodes
ethiopica
sp. n., Leucinodes
kenyensis
sp. n., Leucinodes
malawiensis
sp. n., Leucinodes
pseudorbonalis
sp. n., Leucinodes
rimavallis
sp. n. and Leucinodes
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, Leucinodes
laisalis has been much less frequently recorded, and Leucinodes
pseudorbonalis as well as Leucinodes
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., Syllepte
hemichionalis
idalis Viette, 1958, comb. rev. and Syllepte
vagans (Tutt, 1890), comb. n. (Aphytoceros). Deanolis
iriocapna (Meyrick, 1938), comb. n. from Indonesia is originally described and misplaced in Sceliodes, and Leucinodes
cordalis (Doubleday, 1843), comb. n. (Margaritia) from New Zealand, Leucinodes
raondry (Viette, 1981), comb. n. (Daraba) from Madagascar as well as Leucinodes
grisealis (Kenrick, 1912), comb. n. (Scelio...