Background: Cold acclimation usually alters gene expression in insects.The desert beetle,Microdera punctipennis,is special Tenebrionidae desert insect in Gurbantonggut Desert in Central Asia,the northwest of China.The beetle obtains high cold tolerance by keeping low SCP via increasing the ratio of bound water of bound water to free water and the amount of antifreeze protein.For gene expression studies based on mRNA quantification by RT-qPCR,stability of housekeeping genes is crucial.The aim of this study was the identification of reference genes to study the effect of cold stress on gene expression of this species.The identified reference genes will be useful tools to investigate differential gene expression of Microdera punctipennis at low temperature.