Key to species of Balta from China 1. Pronotal disk black, broad lateral areas brown and semihyaline ....................................................................... B. picea - Pronotal disk brown, with or without maculae............................................................................................................. 2 2. Face totally black, cubital vein of hind wing with 6 complete branches ......................................................... B. vicina - Face brownish yellow, some species with brown markings......................................................................................... 3 3. Subgenital plate asymmetrical, left lobe longer than right ..................................................................... B. kwangorum - Subgenital plate symmetrical....................................................................................................................................... 4 4. Costal veins of hind wing not clubbed, cubital vein with 2–5 complete veins .................................................... B. vilis - Costal veins of hind wing clubbed, cubital vein with 3–5 complete veins.................................................................. 5 5. Vertex with dark stripes or band, and spots between eyes............................................................................................ 6 - Vertex unicolorous, without markings.......................................................................................................................... 7 6. Styli triangular (Fig. 8); median phallomere long, sticklike, with blunt apex and bifurcation near base, one arched appendage present (Fig. 10–11) ......................................................................................................... B. spinea sp. nov. - Styli bulbous, with scattered fine spines (Fig. 19), median phallomere long, sticklike and curved with blunt base and brushlike apex, one arched appendage also with brushlike apex (Fig. 21–22) ........................... B. spinescens sp. nov. 7. Anteroventral margin of front femur with 3 proximal spines followed by a row of piliform spinules, terminating in 3 large apical spines (Fig. 27) ......................................................................................................... B. barbellata sp. nov. - Anteroventral margin of stout proximal spines absent, row of piliform spinules present, terminating in 2 stout spines, or with proximal spines, terminating in 2 stout spines................................................................................................. 8 8. Hind margin of subgenital plate deeply and concavely excavated in middle, lateral corners with several spines near styli (Fig. 41) .................................................................................................................................... B. dissecta sp. nov. - Hind margin of subgenital plate deeply and concavely excavated, lateral corners without spines near styli.......... …9 9. Median phallomere with blunt base and bifurcated apex (Fig. 54); one associated median phallomere appendages with basal half nearly S-shaped, distal half simple but irregular (Fig. 55) ............................... B. curvirostris sp. nov. - Median phallomere with blunt base and acuminate apex (Fig. 65); one associated median phallomere appendage present, bifurcated near middle and apex swollen into one long brush-like structure (Fig. 66)..................................... ..................................................................................................................................................... B. jinlinorum sp. nov.

Published as part of Che, Yanli, Chen, Li & Wang, Zongqing, 2010, Six new species of the genus Balta Tepper (Blattaria, Pseudophyllodrominae) from China, pp. 55-67 in Zootaxa 2609 on page 56, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.197769