Ontholestes
Creators: name: Yang, Zhuo
name: Zhou, Hong-Zhang
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2012
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Staphylinidae
Ontholestes

description: Key to species of Ontholestes fauna of China
1. Body large, longer than 15 mm, sometimes nearly reaching 20 mm; temple almost as long as diameter of eye viewed from above............................................................................ O. tessellatus (Geoffroy)
- Body small, less than 15 mm long, temple shorter than diameter of eye viewed from above........................... 2
2. Vertex with small smooth longitudinal space basally.......................................................... 3
- Vertex without small smooth longitudinal space basally....................................................... 4
3. Clypeus light yellow and smooth, without longitudinal grooves.............................. O. proximus Kirshenblat
- Clypeus pitchy black with fine but distinct longitudinal grooves............................... O. orientalis Bernhauer
4. Deflexed sides of elytra yellowish red.................................................. O. simulator Kirshenblat
- Deflexed sides of elytra black............................................................................ 5
5. Maxillary palps brown, distal half of their last segment black.................................... O. oculatus (Sharp)
- Maxillary palps entirely black............................................................................ 6
6. Antennae with 4–5th segments long, 4th at least twice as long as wide, 5th distinctly longer than wide.................... 7
- Antennae with 4–5th segments short, 4th at most 1.5 times as long as wide, 5th only slightly longer than wide.............. 8
7. Posterior margin of abdominal sternite VIII with rounded emargination medially; aedeagus with apex of paramere triangular....................................................................... O. xinqiaoensis Yang & Zhou sp. nov.
- Posterior margin of abdominal sternite VIII with triangular emargination medially, aedeagus with apex of paramere rounded................................................................................... O. tenuicornis (Kraatz)
8. Head wider than the pronoum............................................................................ 9
- Head narrower than pronodum.......................................................................... 10
9. Temples very short, eyes large and occupying nearly entire lateral length of head................ O. aurosparsus (Fauvel)
- Temples only slightly shorter than diameter of eyes viewed from above............................ O. murinus (Linné)
10. Temples extremely short, eyes very large and occupying almost entire lateral length of head................................................................................................... O. napoensis Yang & Zhou sp. nov.
- Temples almost half as long as diameter of eye viewed from above............................ O. callistus (Hochhuth)
description: Published as part of Yang, Zhuo & Zhou, Hong-Zhang, 2012, Review of Chinese species of the genus Ontholestes Ganglbauer, 1895 (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Staphylininae) with description of two species new to science, pp. 1-20 in Zootaxa 3191 on page 3, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.280063