Leucinodes Guenee , 1854

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, pp. 117-162 : 120-123

Taxon classification Animalia Lepidoptera Crambidae

Leucinodes Guenee, 1854

Leucinodes Guenée, 1854. Type species: Leucinodes orbonalis Guenée, 1854

Sceliodes Guenée, 1854, syn. n. Type species: Sceliodes mucidalis Guenée, 1854

Daraba Walker, 1859 (synonymised by Hampson 1899). Type species: Daraba idmonealis Walker, 1859

Eretria Snellen, 1880 (synonymised by Hampson 1899; Shaffer et al. 1996: junior homonym of Eretria Robineau-Desvoidy, 1863). Type species: Eretria obsistalis Snellen, 1880

Leuctinodes South, 1897 (misspell.)

Diagnosis.

Leucinodes is characterized by a forewing pattern which includes a brown base, a white antemedian line which is distally brown edged; a median area that is ochreous or brown from the costa to the middle of wing, and red-brown from the middle of wing towards the dorsum; below the apex is a black-brown half moon-shaped patch (missing in Leucinodes malawiensis sp. n.), edged by a thin white postmedian line and a white line at the margin of wing. The hindwings are white with inconspicuous pattern elements. Leucinodes females with only one frenular bristle in the hindwing, female labial palps with elongated 3rd meron, male genitalia with identical location of the fibula-sacculus process-complex (process lacking in Leucinodes cordalis (Doubleday, 1843), Leucinodes laisalis and Leucinodes malawiensis ), female genitalia with fine granular sclerotization of ductus bursae (in most species), antrum with thickened mesocuticula, presence of lateral antrum pockets. Larvae are internal feeders in Solanaceae .

Redescription of adults.

Head. Frons conically bulged (Figs 11-12) to flat; labial palps porrect, brownish, 1st meron on ventral side with forward-directed tuft, 3rd meron in males half as long as 2nd meron, longer in females (Figs 11-12); maxillary palps minute or missing; haustellum well developed; eyes large, hemispherical; ocelli present; antennae ciliate, pedicel white to brown, flagellum light brown, cilia in males longer than basal antennal radius (except in Leucinodes malawiensis ), in females shorter than antennal radius; vertex with whitish to brown scales at the collar and brown scales directed forward; chaetosemata absent.

Thorax. Dorsal side whitish to brown with whitish and dark brown scales mixed in; ventral side whitish; legs predominantly whitish, foreleg femur, tibia and epiphysis light to dark brown; tibial spurs 0, 2, 4 (fore-, mid-, hindleg) with outer spur 1/2 to 2/3 the length of inner spur.

Wings. Forewing white translucent, light brown or orange- to grey-brown, basal area light to dark brown, delimited by white and dark brown double line or in species with brown forewing ground colour by dark brown antemedian line; median area with pale to dark brown, sometimes very faint proximal discoidal stigma (absent in Leucinodes malawiensis ); distal discoidal stigma pale to dark brown, reaching from costa to forewing centre; central dorsum with prominent orange to dark brown, broadly L-shaped or triangular spot connected or disconnected with distal discoidal stigma; postmedian line sinuate, faint and grey to grey-brown, white edged, with prominent subcostal bulge; apex brown to grey-brown coloured (absent in Leucinodes malawiensis ), with slim strip of white at outer margin; margin dotted at veins, with large dots at apex and M3; fringe white to pale brown with dark interruption at apex and at M3 (absent in Leucinodes malawiensis ). Hindwing in both sexes with one frenular bristle, ground colour whitish, middle of wing with one or two spots, often faint; postmedian line inconspicuous, bent towards spot at middle of wing; area below apex suffused by pale brown to grey; margin dotted at end of veins, with large dot at end of M3.

Abdomen. First segment whitish, remainder light-, orange- or dark brown to grey.

Male genitalia. Uncus neck constricted, head circular, with dorsal agglomeration of thick setae; narrow transtilla arms with central notch, in Leucinodes ethiopica with dorsad spike on each arm; vinculum saccus round to V-shaped, short to more or less elongated, with or without keeled tip; juxta oval, subulate, short rhombical or tongue-shaped, with semicircular base; valvae elongate triangular, tapering posteriorly, costa and posterioventral margin loosely covered with long setae; fibula (fi in Fig. 13) arising at central part of mesal wall of valva or near costa; sacculus (sa in Fig. 13) large, elongate oval, with distal sclerotized process (sp in Fig. 13), often in close association with fibula, process absent in Leucinodes laisalis , Leucinodes malawiensis ; ventral margin of distal valvae with or without granulated area (ga in Fig. 13); phallus simple, with variously shaped sclerites at posterior apodeme, vesica with or without cornuti.

Female genitalia. Corpus bursae ovoid, membranous, without signa; ductus bursae membranous with delicate granulation, partly reaching into posterior corpus bursae; antrum short to long, slim to broader than ductus bursae, anterior part sometimes coiled, mesocuticula thickened (strongly stained with Chlorazol Black) and exocuticula (inner layer) partly sclerotized; ostium bursae with lateral membranous pockets, with or without oval sclerites; both apophyses pairs simple, apophyses anteriores normally stronger developed than posterior apophyses, with or without broadened central portion.

Immature stages.

Larva. Last instar larvae with pink dorsal integument, intersegmental areas cream or light pink, the ventral integument cream; strength of the colouration very variable, pink colour on majority of abdominal segments often interrupted laterally by a transverse cream line; head, prothoracic and anal shields mid brown with variable black markings; early instar larvae white or cream with brown pinacula and black head, prothoracic and anal shields. In older larvae the dorsal integument turns beige, then increasingly deeper pink as the moults progress, head and prothoracic shield brown; pinacula pale brown and prominent against the integument in all instars. The chaetotaxy of the thorax and first nine abdominal segments of the last instar is illustrated in Fig. 35. The relative size of pinacula and positions of setae are very variable intraspecifically. The head is mid to light brown, with variable black markings around ocelli and at genal angle; relative positions of cranial setae very unstable in the specimens examined. The prothoracic shield is light to dark brown with pale median sulcus and two variable dark markings: one along part of the posterior margin, strongest medially, and the other mediolaterally; usually additional darker spots bordering the median sulcus and extending laterally, spots very variable in extent and position; prothoracic L pinaculum crescent shaped with variable posterior extension, L setae anterior to the spiracle, usually vertically aligned; microscopic seta MV3 clearly visible in most specimens, can be almost as prominent as the V seta; MV3 setae share a mid-ventral pinaculum or are on separate pinacula; meso- and metathorax with clearly visible dorsal and subdorsal microscopic pinacula at 60 × magnification; three ventral microscopic setae less prominent, with MV3 usually being the least evident, these with or without small pinacula. Many larvae are asymmetrical in this feature, with a pinaculum on one side, and seta only on the other. On the abdomen, there is one SV seta on segment 1, three SV setae on a single pinaculum on segment 2; microscopic seta MV3 visible on both segments 1 and 2, not prominent; microscopic setae on segments 3-8 mostly not visible at 60 × magnification; prolegs with crochets in a mesopenellipse; anal shield often lighter brown than pinacula, usually darker pigmented in anterior half.

Pupa. (Figs 42-46) Yellow to pale brown, lightly sclerotized, developing adult clearly visible as development proceeds; two distinct, raised hood-like structures dorsal to spiracles on abdominal segments 2 and 3 (Figs 42, 44); four pairs of long hooked setae ventral to cremaster; cocoon stout leathery, made of silk, firmly attached to the substrate.

Remarks.

Sceliodes and Leucinodes have traditionally been distinguished by their forewing ground colour, which is predominantly orange-brown to greyish-brown in Sceliodes and white translucent in Leucinodes . The newly discovered Leucinodes ethiopica sp. n. is intermediate in this character whereas all other wing pattern elements are homologous among Leucinodes and Sceliodes species. Study of the genitalia showed that cornuti are present in Sceliodes species, but are absent in Leucinodes , including Leucinodes ethiopica . The female genitalia contain oval to semicircular sclerites in the lateral antrum pockets of Leucinodes ethiopica , African Sceliodes and Sceliodes cordalis , the type-species of Sceliodes , which is distributed in Australia and New Zealand. Thus, there is a continuous variation between Leucinodes and Sceliodes and we here synonymise Sceliodes syn. n. with Leucinodes . As Leucinodes and Sceliodes have been published on the same date and in the same work, we here give precedence to Leucinodes as it is the better known of the two names, acting as first reviser according to ICZN 24.2.2.