Keys to Banchinae
In addition to the keys in development below, there are several
published keys. A tribal key can be found in Townes & Townes (1978), along with
keys to the species of Banchini and Lissonotini. See Dasch (1988) for
a key to the species of Glyptini. Despite the immense amount taxonomic effort expended
by these authors, identification of banchine species is difficult.
However, the tribes and genera are fairly easy to identify due to the limited
number and the fact that they are well-differentiated.
Most species belong to a limited number of
extremely diverse genera, mainly
Glypta,
Lissonota, and
to a lesser extent,
Exetastes. Except for a few species with
exceptional and unique coloration, species in these genera are
exceedingly difficult to recognize. The primary reason is due to the
high number of species. The second, and more frustrating reason, is
the low-quality keys in Townes & Townes (1978) and Dasch (1988). Both
first split the genera into difficult to recognize species groups
instead of prioritizing identification by using easy to observe
characters (e.g. color). The keys then rely on an unseemly
number of dubious characters, like ratios of width and length of various
body regions that are specified to the hundreth place. In practice,
this renders the majority of
Glypta and
Lissonota
species unidentifiable. This need not be the case, however. Modern
imaging technology would likely allow for much better keys. Unfortunately,
there is no banchine specalist in North America to help alleviate the
situation.
1. Habitus as in image below . . . .
Hadrostethus scitulus (restricted to Arizona)
- Habitus as in image below . . . .
Mnioes lunatus (eastern U.S. and west to Colorado)
- Habitus various . . .
3
3. Setae on head and mesosoma very long. Body stout and overall
color black.
. . . .
Arenetra (throughout North America)
- Setae on head and thorax short. Body elongate to moderately stout
and color various . . . .
4
4.
-