A new species of the blister-beetle genus Meloe L. (Coleoptera, Meloidae) from Tajikistan

A new species, Meloe (Meloe) kulabensis sp. n., is described from southwestern Tajikistan (Kulob, = Kulyab). The new species is characterized by rather slender legs with an almost straight middle tibia, comparatively long and narrow tarsi, the 1st segment of the hind tarsus almost 5 times as long as wide, a comparatively large transverse eye diameter (the distance between the eyes are 3 times the transverse eye diameter), a free (not merging) punctation, and a peculiar structure of the male genitalia. Similarly to Meloe ovalicollis Reitt., the new species bears a narrow brush of short and not dense hairs on the ventral surface of the 1st-4th segments of the fore tarsus. Meloe ovalicollis is recorded for the first time for Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.