Blaptinae

Blaptinae is a subfamily of darkling beetles in the family Tenebrionidae. There are around 300 genera in Blaptinae, divided into 8 tribes.^[1][2][3][4]

Blaptinae
Blapstinus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Cucujiformia
Family:	Tenebrionidae
Subfamily:	Blaptinae Leach, 1815
Tribes
Amphidorini LeConte, 1862 Blaptini Leach, 1815 Dendarini Mulsant & Rey, 1854 Dissonomini Medvedev, 1968 Opatrini Brullé, 1832 Pedinini Eschscholtz, 1829 Platynotini Mulsant & Rey, 1853 Platyscelidini Lacordaire, 1859
Diversity
at least 300 genera

Based on morphological and molecular evidence, Kamiński et al. (2021) moved seven tribes from Tenebrioninae into the newly resurrected subfamily Blaptinae. In 2024, the tribe Dissonomini was added. The new classification has been widely accepted by scientific community^[5][6][1] Currently, the subfamily contains 283 genera and about 4000 species.

Blaptinae is one of the most widespread and abundant groups of darkling beetles in arid regions around the world. In several desert ecosystems, members of this subfamily form a dominant part of the local invertebrate fauna—for example Gonopus tibialis (sandworm beetle) in Namib^[7] or Parastizopus armaticeps in Kalahari^[8].

Ovoviviparity has been documented in certain species of the tribe Platynotina^[9], where females have been observed carrying fully developed first-instar larvae within their bursa copulatrix^[10].

See also

• List of Blaptinae genera