On this website there is a key to the genera of Entedoninae in the Neotropical region and keys to the species of these genera. If you want to start with the identification of the genus, go to the
Genus key. If you already know the genus then go to
Genera and from there select the appropriate genus and klick on the "key to species" button.
The keys are of two types. The key used for smaller groups is a dichotomous key (created with the LUCID Phoenix software). In this type of key there are always two options in each couplet. Start with the first couplet, "1", and click on the most appropriate of the two options and continue doing this until you have identified a species (this type of key is used only at the species level). The second type of key is a multiple entry key (created with the LUCID3 software), and this type of key is used for larger sets of taxa (i.e. the genus key, and species keys for genera with many species). In this type of key there is a set of characters and for each character there are at least two character states. For example "eye color" is a character and "brown", "blue" and "green" are three different character states. There can also be statements like "body black", and the states in this case are always two: "yes" or "no". When chosing the characters this choice can either be random, systematic (e.g. from top to bottom), or you can use the magic wand to chose characters. It's your choice! What ever method you chose you will see that as you click on the appropriate character state, taxa that do not fit these criteria will be sorted out. Soon you will end up with only one taxon, and this is hopefully the one you are trying to identify. Also, when relatively few taxa remain then it is possible to use the "shortcut feature" to finish the identification.
The LUCID key to the species of the genus Horismenus contains almost 400 species. To keep the key reasonably short some species can not be separated with this key. When this happens go to the fact sheet of any of the species that can not be identified. Under "Similar species in Lucid key" on the fact sheet there are separating characters for these species.
When using LUCID keys it is possible to magnify the illustrations. Just klick in the lower right-hand corner.
Remember that there are explanations to all the terms used in the keys on this website. If the character is not explained with an illustration in the key, then go to either the
terminology page, where the characters are explained verbally, or to the
terms page, where they are illustrated.
This site is under construction and currently not all genera of Entedoninae are included. Check here which genera that are included and which are not.
To be able to run either of the two types of keys mentioned above on your computer you need to have Java Virtual Machine2 (JVM) installed, preferrably the latest version. Please check Java homepage for the latest edition (available free of charge).