Sphecodini Schenck
Creators: name: Gonçalves, Rodrigo Barbosa
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Apidae

description: Key to the Genera of the Sphecodini of the Western Hemisphere (modified from Michener, 2007)
1. Inner orbits of eyes strongly converging below; head little wider than long; clypeus about twice as broad as long; carina across pronotum, between dorsolateral angles, continuous; surface of S2 conspicuously convex in profile, its base strongly depressed, suggesting strong constriction between S1 and S2; body tomentum yellowish, usually dense and covering terga ... ....................................................................... Ptilocleptis Michener
—. Inner orbits of eyes usually not strongly converging; head distinctly wider than long, as seen in frontal view; clypeus three or more times as wide as long, rarely only twice as broad as long; carina between dorsolateral pronotal angles incomplete; surface of S2 usually not strongly convex in profile, apparent constriction between S1 and S2 being weak; body tomentum, when present, whitish, not dense nor covering terga ............. 2
2. Free part of marginal cell at least three times as long as part subtended by submarginal cells; T1 slightly longer than broad; T5 with apical margin bare, like that of preceding terga .... ................................................. Microsphecodes Eickwort & Stage
—. Free part of marginal cell at most twice as long as part subtended by submarginal cells; T1 usually broader than long; T5 with margin hairier than that of preceding terga … .......................... 3
3. Preoccipital ridge not carinate; anterior margin of mesoscutum in profile gently convex, not sharply differentiated from dorsal surface; head and thorax finely punctate; mandibles elongate; free part of marginal cell about twice as long as part subtended by submarginal cells … ............................. Nesosphecodes Engel
—. Preoccipital ridge carinate; anterior margin of mesoscutum abruptly declivous, well differentiated from dorsal surface; head and thorax usually coarsely pitted, except in small species (less than 6 mm); mandibles not elongate; free part or marginal cell less than twice as long as part subtended by submarginal cells ..............................................................................................................… 4
4. Female scape not reaching median ocellus (Fig. 1A). Male flagellum short, shorter than mesosoma length (Fig. 1B); male T7 pygidial plate broad (Fig. 1C) … ... Melissocleptis gen. nov.
—. Female with scape reaching median ocellus (Fig. 1D). Male flagellum long, as long as mesosoma length (Fig. 1E); male T7 pygidial plate narrow (Fig. 1F) ... ..................................................... 5
5. Female mandible bidentate or simple; with or without thick, short spinelike setae on posterior margin of hind tibia; hind tibial plate rudimentary (defined at least along posterior margin) or absent. Male second hind tarsal segment broader at the base than the third; genital capsule variable (North and Central America) … ........................................ Sphecodes Latreille
—. Females always with the following combination: mandible simple; usually without tibial spinelike setae, or these setae as long as the plumose ones; hind tibial plate absent (not defined on posterior margin).Male second hind tarsal segment as narrow at the base as the third; gonocoxite not striate, gonapophyses narrow (South and Central America) … .......................................... .......................................... Austrosphecodes Michener, stat. nov.
description: Published as part of Gonçalves, Rodrigo Barbosa, 2021, A revised genus-level classification for the Neotropical groups of the cleptoparasitic bee tribe Sphecodini Schenck (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Halictinae), pp. 1-10 in Revista Brasileira de Entomologia (e 20200094) (e 20200094) 65 (1) on page 2, DOI: 10.1590/1806-9665-RBENT-2020-0094, http://zenodo.org/record/10665010