Hylaspini Chapuis, 1875

Subtribe Hylaspini Chapuis, 1875 View in CoL

Only three genera could be sampled from this largely Old World tribe. Dicertina collina (Weise, 1924) ( Fig. 4H View FIG ) had a membranous, elongate endophallus bearing a complex apical structure consisting of a tube-like central part, and a pair of sharp lateral spines. An associated female showed no signs of scarring. Sermylassa halensis (Linnaeus, 1767) ( Fig. 4I View FIG ) had an entirely membranous endophallus lacking any sclerotized structures. Three species of Aplosonyx Chevrolat, 1836 were studied. Aplosonyx albicornis (Wiedemann, 1821) ( Fig. 5A View FIG ) showed a long, tubular, membranous endophallus with the apical sclerite flanked by two elongate curved sclerites, and an endophallic membrane densely studded with minute spines or teeth. When the endophallus was everted, these lateral sclerites spread apart once clear of the membrane tube. A species from Indonesia, A. javana (Wiedemann, 1821) ( Fig. 5B View FIG ), had an apical sclerite arrangement similar to A. albicornis , except that the lateral sclerites were pointed and hook-shaped. In A. monticola Bowditch, 1925 ( Fig. 5C View FIG ), the endophallus was large and completely membranous, except for a small, sclerotized T-shaped apical sclerite. This species also had very long thin sclerite with a round plate on the base, running inside the endophallus to the apical sclerite (perhaps a retracting device). In both available specimens, everting the endophallus caused the sclerite to spring laterally through the endophallic membrane as shown in Figure 5C View FIG . Females of A. albicornis and A. monticola had no scars on the bursa or vagina ( Fig. 5D, F View FIG ). The female of A. javana , the species in which the male has sharp endophallic sclerites, had a pair of possible scars near the entrance of her bursa ( Fig. 5E View FIG ).

Photos of aedeagi in a recent revision of the Chinese Aplosonyx ( Feng et al. 2023) show paired curved sclerites similar to those of A. albicornis lying inside the median lobes of 21 species.