Abstract: The phylogenetic systematics of 65 species of Blaptini (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) belonging to 16 genera (including 7 new recorded genera) was dealt with based on the structure of defensive glands. The characteristics of the glands at the genera and tribal level including gland position, shape, length, width, distance between the two glands, thickness of glands, surface fingerprint whorl and wrinkles were summarized. The phylogenetic relationship of the 16 genera was established using SPSS19.0 and Hennig86 program (version 1.5). The result showed that the evolutionary relationship should be as follows: Prosodes>Blaptogonia>Tagonoides>Thaumatoblaps>Caenoblaps>Agnaptoria>Asidoblaps>Coelocnemodes>Dila>Gnaptor>Blaps>Pseudognaptorina> Nalepa>Belousovia>Gnaptorina>Itagonia. The result supports the geographic distribution feature of this group. The 16 genera of Blaptini were clearly separated based on the phylogeny of defensive glands’ morphological data, suggesting that these characteristics have important value in taxonomy.

Key words: Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae, Blaptini, defensive glands, phylogeny