Sinolethrus, a new subgenus of the genus Lethrus Scopoli, 1777 from China (Coleoptera: Geotrupidae: Lethrinae) and new synonymy of the subgenus Paralethrus Nikolajev, 2003 Author Bagaturov, Mikhail F. Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia. & Leningrad zoo, Alexandrovskiy park 1, St. Petersburg, 197198, Russia. & Athens Institute for Education and Research, Athena, Greece. Author Hillert, Oliver Kieferndamm 10, D- 15566 Schöneiche bei Berlin, Germany. text Zootaxa 2023 2023-03-29 5258 3 301 316 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5258.3.4 journal article 240357 10.11646/zootaxa.5258.3.4 d48c8cb9-405e-41d3-bc62-0de7d6e378e8 1175-5326 7780393 2E4FAAEC-E13B-4A90-8631-D243565271A1 Subgenus Paralethrus Nikolajev, 2003 ( Figs. 6 , 40–45, 48 ) The subgenus Paralethrus was established by Nikolajev(2003) , and includes currently only5species; L.bituberculatus Ballion, 1870 , L. crassus Hillert, 2004 , L. kabaki Nikolajev, 1998 , L. karatavicus Nikolajev & Skopin, 1971 , and L. turkestanicus Ballion, 1871 . The species L. bituberculatus was split by Nikolajev (1969) into 3 subspecies, which inhabit different altitudes in the mountainous areas of Kazakhstan , Kirgizia and Uzbekistan . Lethrus mediocris Fairmaire, 1892 was described from Turkestan, collected by P. Nadar ( Fairmaire 1892 ). The type locality “Turkestan” is geographically an extreme widespread region, from the east coast of the Caspian Sea to the desert Gobi in the 19 th century. This region now includes several countries. Until now, the taxonomic position of this species was unclear and its placement was not given or given only vaguely in the past due to the unavailability of type material ( Boucomont 1912 ; Král & Nikolajev 2006 ; Nikolajev et al. 2016 ).