Hyphaereon MacLeay, 1825

Kataev, B. M., 2021, Description of a remarkable new species of the genus Coleolissus from the Western Ghats (India), with notes on this and related genera (Coleoptera: Carabidae), Russian Entomological Journal 30 (4), pp. 448-454 : 452

Hyphaereon MacLeay, 1825

Hyphaereon MacLeay, 1825: 22 . Type species: Harpalus (Hyphaereon) reflexus MacLeay, 1825 , by monotypy.

Hyphaereon was originally described as a subgenus of Harpalus Latreille, 1802 for one species from Java, but already Hope [1838] and Lacordaire [1854] considered it as a separate genus. In the former interpretation [ Darlington, 1968], it was separated from Coleolissus by having abdominal sternite VII of male emarginated at apex, with one pair of setae in both sexes (outer pair of setae lacking), and elytra not denticulate at apex. Since these characters are variable in both Hyphaereon and Coleolissus, Noonan [1985a] considered these taxa as synonyms. According to my data, in Hyphaereon , the apical emargination of the abdominal sternite VII of male varies from somewhat deep (triangular or arcuate) to very weak, almost indistinct as, for example, in H. platynoides Ito, 2008 ; the number of setae on this sternite varies in both sexes from one pair to two pairs (in Coleolissus , the apex of last abdominal sternite in male is rounded or truncate, in some species emarginated; most species have two pairs of setae in both sexes, but some species have only one pair of setae in male). However, Hyphaereon differs from Coleolissus in very characteristic male genitalia: its median lobe is long and narrow, with very small basal bulb, and parameres are also very small, much smaller than those in Coleolissus . As compared with Coleolissus , many species of Hyphaereon have also smaller and more elongate body and pronotum with well-marked basal angles (in most Coleolissus , basal angles more or less widely rounded), although some species seems to be indistinguishable from Coleolissus based only on external characters. In my opinion, the aedeagus of Hyphaereon masumotoi (Ito, 1991) (not to be confused with Coleolissus masumotoi Ito, 1991 ) is somewhat intermediate in shape between aedeagi of Coleolissus and Hyphaereon . Since the modified aedeagus of Hyphaereon is apparently an apomorphic feature, it is most likely that this taxon represents a derivate lineage of Coleolissus . If this assumption is true, it would probably be more correct to regard Coleolissus as a subgenus of Hyphaereon .