Sphedanolestes Stål, 1866

Key to the species of the genus Sphedanolestes Stål from China

1. Pronotum black or blackish brown or only posterior lobe with yellowish marking ............................................................ 2

– Pronotum paler or just with sculpture of anterior or/and marking on posterior lobe black .................................................... 9

2. Connexivum unicolorous, at least margin of connexivum unicolorous ........................................................................ 3

– Connexivum bicoloured ......................................................... 4

3. Body length over 15 mm, robust ............ S. pubinotus Reuter

– Body length less than 14 mm, elongate ........ S. gularis Hsiao

4. Femora with annuli, body robust ........ S. impressicollis (Stål)

– Femora without annuli, body elongate .................................. 5

5. Pronotum distinctly with granulates or mini processes ........ 6

– Pronotum without granulates or mini processes ................... 7

6. Body length lees than 13 mm, pronotum distinctly with granulates, femora not distinctly nodulous .................................................. S. granulipes Hsiao & Ren

– Body length over 13 mm, pronotum distinctly with processes, femora distinctly nodulous ........................... S. nodipes Li

7. Head beneath black, abdominal beneath with transverse black markings ............................................ S. subtilis (Jakovlev)

– Head beneath yellow, abdominal sterna with few transverse spots or markings ....................................................................... 8

8. Third to sixth abdominal sterna each with a few transverse spots, body black ............................................... S. pilosus Hsiao

– Lateral sides of abdominal beneath with longitudinal markings, pronotum tinged with metallic blue .......................................................... S. sinicus Cai & Yang

9. Femora unicolorous, reddish .. S. rubripes, new species (Fig. 1)

– At least one pairs of legs with femora bicoloured ............. 10

10. Femora pale with darker markings ..................................... 11

– Femora blackish brown, at least one pairs of legs with paler markings on femora ....................................................... 12

11. Body yellow, femur with 2 to 3 annuli, most portion of tibiae yellow, posterior pronotal lobe with 4 black spots .............................. S. quadrinotatus, new species (Fig. 11)

– Body reddish yellow, femur with 1 annulus, most portion of tibiae blackish, posterior pronotal lobe without black spots ......................................... S. xiongi, new species (Fig. 21)

12. Corium red or reddish brown ............................................. 13

– Corium blackish brown ....................................................... 14

13. Base of femur red, first antennal segment about twice as long as second antennal segment, first rostral segment subequal to the second rostral segment .................. S. trichrous Stål

– Middle part of femur with a yellowish annulus, first antennal segment nearly 3 times as long as second antennal segment, first rostral segment distinctly shorter than the second rostral segment .................................................... S. anellus Hsiao

14. Third antennal segment about twice as long as the second, mid and hind legs without annuli ..... S. bicoloroides Putshkov

– Third antennal segment slightly longer than the second, mid and hind legs with annuli ........................ S. annulipes Distant