green: a characteristic usually, but not necessarily exclusively, indicative of this species.
yellow: within the range of variation of this species, but not considered indicative.
red: a characteristic that would preclude this species.
Typical examples of the key marks are shown below (links from text).
If a mark meets the description/illustration, it is a strong pointer to the indicated species;
if it does not, but it is close, this does not necessarily preclude the indicated species.
If the total for any species reaches 100, it can reasonably be assumed to be positively identified.
For some species the maximum only just exceeds 100 and for others is much higher; this reflects the
uniqueness and reliability of the key marks.
| band | alveus | armoricanus | carlinae | cirsii | foulquieri | onopordi | serratulae | ||
| marginal | s1/2 | largely unmarked | |||||||
| weak arrow-shaped marks, slightly amorphous | 25 | ||||||||
| clear arrow-shaped marks, not (or slightly) solid | 20 | ||||||||
| two solid-ish white arc-shaped marks, especially s2 | 10 | 30 | |||||||
| s3/6 | discrete submarginal spots, medium-large | ||||||||
| v5 | short, rectangular, amorphous internal edge | 20 | - | ||||||
| short, rectangular, amorphous edge, washed brown | - | - | 25 | 10 | |||||
| medium-long, rectangular, irregular internal edge | 10 | 10 | |||||||
| long rectangular with neat-ish internal edge | -100 | 50 | 10 | ||||||
| discal | s1 | bump, not very rounded, slightly leaning internally | 25 | 20 | |||||
| bump, symmetrical and rounded, non-leaning | 20 | ||||||||
| bump noticeably large, often leaning internally | 50 | ||||||||
| bump, slightly rounded, clearly leaning internally | 25 | ||||||||
| regular tooth-shaped bump, strongly leaning internally | -1 | - | 50 | ||||||
| bump, the top half significantly displaced internally | 30 | ||||||||
| s2 | minute or absent | 20 | |||||||
| small rounded mark, slightly amorphous | 10 | ||||||||
| medium-sized rounded or amorphous mark | 10 | ||||||||
| s4/5 | internal edge straight | 5 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 5 | |||
| wide, external edge (almost) straight | 20 | ||||||||
| broadly regular concave either side, anvil-shaped | 50 | ||||||||
| cleft externally top and bottom | 10 | 10 | 25 | ||||||
| cleft externally top only | |||||||||
| basal | s7 | medium-sized rectangular, straight edges | 10 | 10 | 10 | ||||
| medium-sized broadly rectangular, rounded corners | |||||||||
| small oval-ish mark | 10 | ||||||||
| medium-sized oval/circular, only just touching veins | 30 | ||||||||
| unh gc | yellow-brown | 10 | 10 | 25 | 10 | ||||
| pale reddish-brown | 10 | ||||||||
| reddish-brown to very warm reddish-brown | 25 | ||||||||
| olive-brown to greenish | |||||||||
| green | |||||||||
| dark brown | 25 | ||||||||
| abdomen | underneath of abdomen showing an extensive white hair tuft (c.f. alveus) | 50 | |||||||
| veins | not prominent | 10 | |||||||
| slightly prominent | 20 | ||||||||
| distinctly prominent | 25 | 20 | 20 | ||||||
| white marks with black borders, marbled effect | 10 | 30 |
All marks have been aligned in the same orientation: "internally" means to the left.
marginal s1/2
marginal v5
| short, rectangular, amorphous edge, washed pale brown |
discal s1
|
bump, the top half significantly displaced internally (Signe de Blachier) |
discal s4/5
