The two existing keys (Fox 1895 and Bohart 2000) to the New World species of Sphecius (Dahlbom 1843) do not correctly identify a large percentage of female Sphecius convallis (Patton 1879) and Sphecius grandis (Say 1824). Both keys fail to allow for common variations in the number of gastral segments with yellow markings, and one key has the two species reversed. Here, we present an improved key that correctly identiÞes both sexes of Ͼ4,400 specimens of New World Sphecius, which we examined.

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... UMEN Las dos llaves existentes (Fox 1895 y Bohart 2000) de la especie del Nuevo Mundo de Sphecius (Dahlbom 1843) no determinan correctamente un gran porcentaje de las hembras de Sphecius convallis (Patton 1879), y S. grandis (Say 1824). Ambas llaves faltan en acomodar las variaciones comunes en el numero de segmentos gastrales de coloracion amarilla, y uno tiene las dos especies invertidas. Aqui presentamos una llave mejorada que correctamente identiÞca los dos sexos de mas que 4,400 especimenes de Sphecius del Nuevo Mundo que hemos examinado. KEY WORDS cicada killer, cicada-killer, key, New World, Sphecius Key to New World Species of Sphecius (Dahlbom 1843) 1. Body black, including scutellum and legs (rarely scutellum yellow), gastral tergites IÐII only with yellow markings (rarely only IÐIII