Leucinodes laisalis is a species of moth in the family Crambidae. It was described as Megaphysa laisalis by Francis Walker based on material collected in the Cape Province of South Africa.
The wingspan is 20âÂÂ34 mm. The species exhibits sexual dimorphism, with females being somewhat larger. The forewing ground colour ranges from orange to grey brown.
It is mainly distributed in Africa, where it is known from Côte dâÂÂIvoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Ghana, Israel, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Réunion, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. It has also been recorded from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom, which probably do not represent native occurrences of the species but rather unintentional introductions along with imports of eggplants, tomatoes and other Solanaceae, the species' host plants. In southern Spain, the species is established since at least 1958 and has extended its range to Portugal, with a spread rate of 5.51âÂÂ11.51 km/year.
Like all species of the tribe Lineodini, the larvae of L. laisalis 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.