On some palaearctic taxa allied to Trox hispidus Pontoppidan with a brachypterous new species from Italy, Malta, Crete and the Balkan peninsula (Coleoptera Trogidae).

Through the study of 2522 Palaearctic specimens, the Author deals with some "taxa" belonging to the "hispidus" species group. Throughout its wide distribution T. hispidus appears to be represented by 5 subspecies, as follows: 1) T. h. hispidus (Pont.) (= T. h. var. insularis Schneider n. syn.) from Central N. and S. W. Europe; 2) T. h. niger Rossi rank et comb. nov. T. niger (= T. h. asiaticus Fald. n. syn.), found in S. Europe, from the N. E. Iberian peninsula to the Balkan one and S. Russia, as well as in Anatolia Turkey. Transcaspia and Soviet Central Asia eastwards to the Chinese Singkiang; 3) T. h. nodulosus Har., endemic to Sardinia Italy and Corsica France; 4) T. h. mixtus Har. rank et comb. nov. T. h. mixtus (= T. berytensis Petr.) from the Middle East, Cyprus and Central S. Anatolia; 5) T. h. iranicus Petr. rank et comb. nov. T. iranicus, currently known from N. Iran and S. Azerbaijan S.S.R. USSR only. The study of the type confirms T. sordidatus Balth. to be a valid species with a N. E. Mediterranean distribution. A brachypterous new species, T. litoralis, is described from Italy, Malta, Crete Greece, the Balkan and W. Anatolic peninsulae. For each "taxon" description, distribution as well as discussion are given. The work is completed with a key to the subspecies of T. hispidus (Pont.), distributional maps as well as original drawings.