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

Abstract

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...

DNA barcodes for bio-surveillance: regulated and economically important arthropod plant pests

“…An additional 36 cryptic pest species reported in literature but not included in the five databases are considered in this article (Table S1 2 ). Taxonomic difficulties continue to constrain the regulation of pest arthropods as indicated by the fact that 18 of the entries on these lists are only identified to a genus (Table S1 2 ), while some with a species designation are known to be a species complex (Mally et al 2015). These taxonomic complexities have provoked growing interest in the adoption of DNA-based approaches for species recognition, creating interesting challenges for traditional approaches to regulatory compliance (Jörger and Schrödl 2013).…”

Pest categorisation of Leucinodes pseudorbonalis

“…More recently, Mally et al. ( 2015 ) described a complex of eight endemic Leucinodes species occurring in sub‐Saharan Africa. One of them is L. pseudorbonalis Mally, Korycinska, Agassiz, Hall, Hodgetts & Nuss, 2015.…”

“…Based on results of taxonomic studies on African species of the genus Leucinodes (Mally et al., 2015 ), the EPPO Council approved in September 2015, the addition of the recently described species Leucinodes pseudorbonalis , to the EPPO A1 List of pests recommended for regulation as QPs (EPPO, online). Revision of past interceptions of the closely related species L. orbonalis based on the studies by Mally et al.…”

“…Revision of past interceptions of the closely related species L. orbonalis based on the studies by Mally et al. ( 2015 ) combined with recent interceptions of L. pseudorbonalis from several African countries indicated that these past interceptions were L. pseudorbonalis and thus a categorisation of this species was initiated.…”

Genome Mining and Expression Analysis of Carboxylesterase and Glutathione S-Transferase Genes Involved in Insecticide Resistance in Eggplant Shoot and Fruit Borer, Leucinodes orbonalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

“…The most important limiting factor in brinjal cultivation is the damage caused by shoot and fruit borer, Leucinodes orbonalis Guenee (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). It was first described from India and now it is distributed all over Asia, Africa, and in few parts of Europe (Mally et al, 2015). In India and Bangladesh, it causes severe yield losses up to 93% despite best management practices (Kodandaram et al, 2017;Prodhan et al, 2018).…”