A Lucid key is designed to use a combination of character states and visual cues; after selecting one or several character states the remaining candidate species can be examined with illustrations and photos. From there, the user can opt to either put in more character states to further narrow the list or visually examine the remaining species candidates and exclude them one-by-one. This is especially useful when the distinguishing characters are difficult to capture in discrete terms, such as patterns on the wings, scutum, and abdomen.
Without prior experience, the most efficient way to use the Lucid key is with the "Best" button indicated with a magic wand icon. It will jump to the most equally distinguishing character—i.e., a character that will remove (as close as possible to) 50% of the remaining species. For Dacini, the first character this option selects is the costal band, which is an excellent starting point. For all characters, when in doubt, it is possible to select multiple states. If you are completely unsure, skip the character altogether and use the best button again to go to the next best. During testing we determined that in most cases a species-level identification can be reached in seven steps or less.
"Spot" characters work the opposite way of the "best" button; they are features that are unique to one or a small set of species and quickly narrow down the selection of candidate species for the most efficient use of the key. This method uses prior knowledge of which character states are highly unusual and exclude more species each step. Recognizing spot characters will happen from using the key frequently, and they are indicated on the species fact sheets. Examples of such character states for Dacini include dark markings on the scutellum, bands on the wings in addition to the costal band and anal streak, an elongated wasp-like abdomen, dark markings on the abdomen that do not form the typical dorsalis-like 'T'-pattern, and setae on the postpronotal lobes. The term "spot characters" (technical term: apomorphy) was coined by botanist Max van Balgooy for the Flora Malesiana (van Balgooy 1997van Balgooy 1997:
van Balgooy, Max MJ, 1997. "Spot-characters. An aid for identification of families and genera." Malesian seed plants-an aid or identification of families and genera 1, no. 1 (1997): 1-154.) and have proven very useful for obtaining identifications when there are many candidate species—with the only caveat that they require some memorization on the part of the user.
Authors: Doorenweerd et al.
Last updated October 2024
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