Key for the South and West African species of the Laonice -genus 1. Prostomium obviously fused anteriorly with peristomium (in dorsal view)......................................... 2 - No obvious anterior fusion (in dorsal view) of prostomium and peristomium....................................... 3 2. Anterolateral corners of prostomium fused with peristomuim by a thin fold, clearly visible in dorsal view (Figure 3 B, arrow); nuchal organ until chaetiger 20........................................................... L. cricketae sp. nov. - Prostomium and peristomium forming anteriorly an entire head lobe; nuchal organ present on over 30 anterior segments..................................................................................... L. antipoda Sikorski, 2011 3. Capillaries arranged in more than two vertical rows in anterior chaetigers; genital pouches appear from chaetiger 5–6 and the number of segments bearing pouches could be from 4 to 10.................................... L. galatheae sp.nov. - Capillaries arranged in two vertical rows in anterior chaetigers; GP=32............................... L. olgae sp.nov.

Published as part of Sikorski, Andrey & Pavlova, Lyudmila, 2016, Three new species of Laonice (Polychaete: Spionidae) from West and Southwest Africa, pp. 353-368 in Zootaxa 4097 (3) on page 367, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4097.3.4, http://zenodo.org/record/265009