''Blaps lethifera'' is a species of beetle in the family

Tenebrionidae Darkling beetle is the common name for members of the beetle family Tenebrionidae, comprising over 20,000 species in a cosmopolitan distribution. Taxonomy ''Tenebrio'' is the Latin generic name that Carl Linnaeus assigned to some flour beetles ...

. The species is native to the Palaearctic and considered invasive in the UK, Finland, and Sweden.

Identification

''Blaps lethifera'' is difficult to identify, as individual characters can look quite different from one another and it is challenging to differentiate them from similar species based on only one feature. No single trait is reliable for identification. Females are considered impossible to identify with certainty, however roughly 98% of males can be accurately identified based on the shape of part of the specimen's leg (the ventroapical projection of protarsomere 5) and its reproductive structure (the aedeagus). In some cases, the specimens may resemble a mix of different species, which adds to the challenge of identification.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1126137 Tenebrionidae Beetles described in 1802