title: On Blaps Fabricius, 1775 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) from Western Kazakhstan with description of a new species from Tyuleniy Archipelago (Caspian Sea).
abstract: A new species of darkling beetles Blaps caspica sp. n. from Western Kazakhstan Kulaly Island (Tyuleniy Archipelago, Caspian Sea) is described. This new taxon belongs to the 6thgroup of the 2ndsection according to Seidlitz's classification and is most similar to Blaps kadyrbekovi G. Medvedev, 2004, B. lethifera Marsham, 1802 and B. parvicollis Zoubkoff, 1829. Blaps caspica sp. n. differs from B. kadyrbekovi by the presence of a hair tuft between male abdominal ventrites 1 and 2, from B. parvicollis by having narrow acute short spurs on the mesotibiae, the structure of the gastral spicula, ovipositor and female genital tubes, from B. lethifera by the slender elliptic body, punctated (not granulated) epipleura and the structure of the female genital tubes. Images, an identification key and local distribution are given for ten Western Kazakhstan species of the genus Blaps Fabricius, 1775.
authors.affiliation: Southern Federal University, Bolshaya Sadovaya str. 105, Rostov-on-Don, 344006, Russia.; Email: chigray93@bk.ru.
authors.forename: Ivan A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Chigray
authors.affiliation: Dagestan State University, Dakhadaev str. 21, Makhachkala, Republic of Dagestan, 367000, Russia.; Email: abgairbeg@rambler.ru.
authors.forename: Gayirbeg M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Abdurakhmanov
authors.affiliation: Caspian Institute of Biological Resources of Russian Academy of Science, M. Gadzhiev str. 45, Makhachkala, Republic of Dagestan, 367000, Russia.; Email: nalassus@mail.ru.
authors.forename: Maxim
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nabozhenko
authors.affiliation: Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia. Institute of Steppe of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pionerskaya str. 11, Orenburg, 460000, Russia; Email: andrej-shapovalov@yandex.ru.
authors.forename: Andrey M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Shapovalov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification*; D005260:Female; D062312:Islands; D007623:Kazakhstan; D008297:Male