A key to Russian and Eastern European species of Blaps Fabricius, 1775 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae: Blaptinae) with the description of a new species from the North Caucasus supported by morphological and molecular data.

A new species is described from the Central part of the North Caucasus (Russia): Blaps caucasica M. Nabozhenko et I. Chigray sp. n. This taxon was interpreted earlier as B. scabriuscula subalpina Mntris, 1832, but both our morphological and molecular genetic analyses showed that it is in fact a separate new species. The following new synonymies are proposed: Blaps verrucosa Adams, 1817 = Blaps scabriuscula Mntris, 1832 syn. n., = Blaps montana Motschulsky, 1839 syn. n.; Blaps lethifera Marsham, 1802 = Blaps pterotapha Mntris, 1832 syn. n. The rank of one species is reinstated: Blaps subalpina Mntris, 1832 stat. resurr. The name Blaps sinuatocollis Solier, 1848 was unambiguously proposed for an infrasubspecific entity and must be excluded from zoological nomenclature. A phylogenetic hypothesis was reconstructed using mitochondrial Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences for some closely related taxa from the North Caucasus and Ciscaucasia: B. caucasica sp. n., B. lethifera, B. subalpina and B. verrucosa. The resulting tree supports the assignment of two specimens from the Lower Don area (Rostov Region of Russia), earlier interpreted as B. scabriuscula subalpina, to B. lethifera. All known Blaps from Russia and Eastern Europe (countries of the former USSR) are illustrated, and keys on males and females are provided. The status of an invasive species Blaps aff. oblonga Kraatz, 1883 from South Siberia is discussed.

A review of the genus Prosodes Eschscholtz, 1829 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) of Iran.

A taxonomic review of the genus Prosodes Eschscholtz, 1829 of Iran is given. Two new species from the subgenus Meropersina Reitter, 1909 are described, both from West Azerbaijan Province: P. kasatkini sp. n. and P. shokhini sp. n. Three new synonymies are proposed: Prosodes (Dilopersina) mithras Reitter, 1904 = Prosodes (Dilopersina) chorassanica G. Medvedev, 1996, syn. n., Prosodes (Dilopersina) neopersis Semenov, 1910 = Prosodes (Dilopersina) exilis Medvedev, 1996, syn. n., Prosodes (Meropersina) cordicollis Allard, 1883 = P. cordicollis v. vermicularis Reitter, 1909, syn. n. Lectotypes are designated for Prosodes calcarata Reitter, 1893, Prosodes cordicollis v. vermicularis Reitter, 1909, Prosodes dentimana Reitter, 1909, Prosodes jakowlewi Reitter, 1909, Prosodes jakowlewi Semenov, 1894, Prosodes laticauda Reitter, 1896, Prosodes mithras Reitter, 1904, Prosodes vermiculosa Reitter, 1909, and Prosodes consanguinea Allard, 1885. The Iranian species Prosodes neopersis Semenov, 1910 is resurrected from the synonymy of Prosodes vestita Allard, 1880 and recorded from Turkmenistan for the first time. Prosodes vestita Allard, 1880 is raised to species level. The distribution of Prosodes kraatzi Reitter, 1893 is corrected: this species is known only from Eastern Afghanistan (not from Iran). Morphology of the two closely related subgenera, Dilopersina Reitter, 1909 and Meropersina Reitter, 1909 is discussed. A key to 17 Iranian species of the genus Prosodes is given (Prosodes kraatzi with doubtful Iranian occurrence is also added).

On Blaps Fabricius, 1775 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) from Western Kazakhstan with description of a new species from Tyuleniy Archipelago (Caspian Sea).

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 6th group of the 2nd section 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.