taxonID	type	description	language	source
B941DC62137AFFC84C96FE04C56FF904.taxon	description	Length 16 – 48 mm. Width 7 – 15 mm. Color. Reddish to dark brown (Figs 5 – 17). Head. Almost inverted trapezoidal, 1.8 times wider than long. Anterior margin at middle strongly concaved, with forming a large, deep, triangularly frontal depression in males. Vertex strongly raised, almost V-shaped. In females, the frontal depression very small and quite shallow mainly covered with densely large punctures; vertex slightly raised. Male mandibles. About 1.2 – 3.3 times the total length of head and pronotum in males. Mandibles of large males strongly curved inwards, the apex sharp with a sub-apcial vestigial tooth (Figs 9 – 12) or completely absent in most of specimens. A large triangular tooth situated anteriorly (about at 1 / 3 – 1 / 2 position on each mandible); at the front of this tooth, 2 – 5 denticles sparsely presented near to the apex; behind of it, 5 – 12 denticles regularly serrated to the mandibular base. Size of this tooth and the amount of denticles gradually reduced following to the body size diminishing in males, exceptionally, only a large tooth presented without any denticles (Fig. 16). Mentum. Almost trapezoidal, front angles rounded with small punctures in males. That of female with larger and denser punctures, containing sparsely brown setae. Pronotum. 2.0 times wider than long, as wide as that of head. Front angles relatively acute. Lateral margins curved, strongly divergent on the anterior 2 / 3 and then convergent on the posterior 1 / 3 in males, almost uniformly convex in females. Hind angles obtusely rounded. Elytra. 1.4 times longer than wide, as wide as that of pronotum. Disc dim and reddish. Punctures presented densely along the elytra suture. Legs. Front tibiae slender, laterally serrated with 5 – 7 small teeth. Middle and hind tibiae simply with a very small spine. Aedeagus (Figs 43 – 48). Slender, the ventrally triangular teeth of PA small and short (about 1.0 mm from its point angle to outer margin of PA). PES about 2.0 times the length of Tegmen. BP about 1.8 times the length of PA. Female genitalia (Fig. 61). HS strongly sclerotized with sub-round apex, irregular plate-liked, somewhat bifurcated at base. Paired sclerites of sternite 9 relatively narrow. SD slightly widened where it joins BC. S almost elongate oval-shaped. SG slender with expanded apex.	en	Zhong, Fang, Bai, Ming, Ge, Yang, Wan, Xia (2014): Taxonomic revision of Prosopocoilus gracilis (Saunders, 1854) and its allied species from China (Coleoptera: Lucanidae). Zoological Systematics 39 (1): 136-148, DOI: 10.11865/zs20140102
B941DC62137AFFC84C96FE04C56FF904.taxon	materials_examined	Lectotype designation. Saunders (1854) wrote: “ All the species described in this paper in the Collection at the British Museum, and most of them will also be found in the Collection of F. S. Parry, Esp., as well as my own collection ”. During our study of these specimens, we found one male with old “ Type ” label in MNHN (Fig. 1) and one male with old “ cotype ” label in BMNH, which meant the male in MNHN should be the described specimen by Saunders. Considering that Parry’s collection partly in BMNH and MNHN, we designated the male with “ Type ” label in MNHN as Lectotype and other males with same data as paralectotypes. Also, the male with “ cotype ” label in BMNH and one male in OXUM were designated as paralectotypes. Type material examined. Lectotype of Prosopocoilus gracilis (Saunders), ♂, in MNHN, labelled: Lectotype (red label) / Type sp. (pale label) / Mr. Fortune, China (handwritten) / Ex. Museo Parry. Paralectotypes: 5 ♂, 6 ♀, in MNHN, labelled: Mr. Fortune, China (handwritten) / Ex. Museo Parry. [The Lectotype and paralectotypes were designated by Dr. Stéphane Boucher and Dr. Xia Wan]. Paralectotype ♂, in BMNH, labelled: cotype / 11383 / China Bor / Fortune / Fry. coll. 1905 - 100 / Hemisodorcus gricilis Saund. Co-type (handwritten) / BMNH (E) # 604729. Paralectotype ♂, in OXUM, labelled: Cladognathus gracilis n. n. Saund., Trans. Ent. Soc. n. s. r. 3, pl. 3. f. 3, N. China (handwritten) / Type, Saunders, Trans. Ent. Soc., 1854, p. 47, t. 3, f. 3 (handwritten), coll. Hope Oxford / Type col. 271, Cladognathus gracilis Saund. (handwritten), Hope Dept Oxford. [The two paralectotypes were designated by Dr. Xia Wan]. Additional material examined. China, Jiangsu, Yixing, 21 July 1923, 6 ♂, collector unknown. Fujian, Chong’an, Sangang, 30 July 1979, 1 ♂, Si-Mei Zhang leg.; Chong’an, 11 July 1986, 1 ♂, Zhong-Fu Zheng leg. Chongqing, Mt. Jinyun, 3 ♂, 3 ♀, alt. 800 m, 13 June 1994, You-Wei Zheng leg. Yunnan, Mengla, alt. 620 m, 11 May 1991, collector unknown; Malipo, 10 – 26 July 1993, 9 ♂, collector unknown (in NZMC). Fujian, Mt. Wuyi, 3 ♂, 23 July 2010, Fang Zhong and Xiao-Yan Hu leg.; same locality, 2 ♂, 30 July 2012, Yu-Yan Cao leg. Guangxi, Wuming, 20 July 2011, 8 ♂, 3 ♀, Fang Zhong and Sheng-Cheng Yang leg.; Mt. Daming, 22 July 2011, 6 ♂, Xiao-Yan Hu leg. Guizhou, Mt. Leigong, 2 ♂, 26 July 2011, Fang Zhong and Sheng-Cheng Yang leg. (in MAHU).	en	Zhong, Fang, Bai, Ming, Ge, Yang, Wan, Xia (2014): Taxonomic revision of Prosopocoilus gracilis (Saunders, 1854) and its allied species from China (Coleoptera: Lucanidae). Zoological Systematics 39 (1): 136-148, DOI: 10.11865/zs20140102
B941DC62137AFFC84C96FE04C56FF904.taxon	distribution	Distribution. China (Jiangsu, Fujian, Zhejiang, Chongqing, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan).	en	Zhong, Fang, Bai, Ming, Ge, Yang, Wan, Xia (2014): Taxonomic revision of Prosopocoilus gracilis (Saunders, 1854) and its allied species from China (Coleoptera: Lucanidae). Zoological Systematics 39 (1): 136-148, DOI: 10.11865/zs20140102
B941DC62137AFFC84C96FE04C56FF904.taxon	discussion	Remarks. Specimens of P. gracilis (Saunders) from Yunnan are little different in body color and aedeagus. They look more reddish (Fig. 17). Their aedeagi more slender in BP, the ventrally triangular teeth of PA very small (Figs 46 – 48). However, it is difficult to determine that the ten specimens should belong to a new taxon considering that geographic variations could be more or less different in morphology in Lucanidae unless many specimens can be found and studied. Possibly, these differences reflect that the species is undergoing highly sophisticated pressures from sexual selection, habitat fragmentation and niche competition among different geographic populations. In addition, it must be pointed out that the name “ P. gracilis ” was firstly used by Kriesche in 1921 to name a small male from Sumatra. Didier & Séguy (1952: pl. LXXX) illustrated P. gracilis Kriesche with 7 males and 1 female. However, the males looked highly similar to P. piceipennis and P. gracilis (Saunders). At least, smaller males were not corresponding with Kriesche’s description. Perhaps, Didier & Séguy (1952) wrongly diagnosed the species of P. gracilis Kriesche in their illustration. Benesh (1960) also gave the wrong quotation and recognition of their illustration. Bomans (1978) proposed P. gracilis Kriesche, 1921 as a junior synonym of P. flavidus (Parry, 1862) based on type examination. Our studies supported Bomans’ opinion. In this paper, all the species name “ P. gracilis (Saunders) ” was wrote simply as P. gracilis.	en	Zhong, Fang, Bai, Ming, Ge, Yang, Wan, Xia (2014): Taxonomic revision of Prosopocoilus gracilis (Saunders, 1854) and its allied species from China (Coleoptera: Lucanidae). Zoological Systematics 39 (1): 136-148, DOI: 10.11865/zs20140102
B941DC62137CFFCA4C96F89CC549F8FB.taxon	materials_examined	Type material examined. Holotype of Prosopocoilus piceipennis (Westwood, 1855), ♂ (Fig. 2), in MNHN, labelled: Holotype (red label) / Type SP. (pale label) / Cladognahus piceipennis West., Ent. S. Ln. 3 pl. 10 (handwritten) / Ex. Museo Parry / Museum Paris. 1932. Coll. R. Oberthür. Additional material examined. China, Guangxi, Baise, Leye, Tongle Forest farm, 1 ♂, 19 June 1981, Zhen-Ming Lu leg., same locality 1 ♂, 16 September 1981, same collector leg. (in NZMC). Jinxiu, Mt. Dayao, 4 ♂, 20 July 2006, local collector (in MAHU). Distribution. China (Xizang, Guangxi, Hainan). Remarks. Comparison between the type and diagnosed specimens from Guangxi indicated that Prosopocoilus piceipennis was not a variation of P. gracilis as Westwood discussed in 1855, but a good species. In P. gracilis: body very slender; lateral margins of pronotum distinctly curved; male mandible without sub-apical tooth near the apex; a slenderly triangular tooth situated anteriorly on each mandible with serrated denticles at the front and behind of it; aedeagus quite slender, ventrally triangular tooth of PA small, short and blunt. Whereas in P. piceipennis: body relatively stout; lateral margins almost straight; male mandible with a marked sub-apical tooth near the apex, a very large and sharp tooth situated posteriorly on each mandible and very close to the mandibular base, no denticles behind it; aedeagus quite stout, the tooth of PA large, long and sharply curved. Schenk (2009) published a species from Guangxi, Prosopocoilus andreasi, which was very similar to P. piceipennis. However, the author merely compared this species with P. gracilis (Saunders) in external morphology. Some important information especially male genitalia comparisons were not mentioned. In this paper, we proposed P. andreasi as a new junior synonym of P. piceipennis. Some specimens from the type locality of P. andreasi had been studied. Males of the two species both were stout, brown-reddish and slightly shiny; lateral margins of prontoum were paralleled. Mandibles of them were long, strongly curved. On each mandible, a very large long sharply-curved triangular tooth presented posteriorly where was close to the mandibular base in large and medium-sized male, the character of which can be used to distinguish them from other allied species in China fauna. Other features, such as, elytra, legs are also highly similar to each other. Aedeagus of them are almost same in morphology: very stout in shapes; BP broad; the ventrally triangular teeth of PA large, long and sharply curved. As regards geographic distribution, only three places were recorded. Type locality of P. piceipennis was relatively large scale area, “ China vel Thibeta ”, but which could actually tell the type is from China. Benesh (1950) recorded some specimens from Hainan. Unfortunately, we have not found any specimen among our collection from the island. Perhaps, P. piceipennis is distributed around south China as the species of P. gracilis.	en	Zhong, Fang, Bai, Ming, Ge, Yang, Wan, Xia (2014): Taxonomic revision of Prosopocoilus gracilis (Saunders, 1854) and its allied species from China (Coleoptera: Lucanidae). Zoological Systematics 39 (1): 136-148, DOI: 10.11865/zs20140102
B941DC62137EFFC44C96F888C275FED1.taxon	materials_examined	Type material examined. Holotype of P. tonkinensis Pouillaude, ♂ (Fig. 3), in MNHN, labelled: holotype (red label) / Tonkin, Hagang, 1914, Le R. Vitalis de Salvaza / vitalis (handwritten) / tonkinensis type! Lemee (handwritten). Additional material examined. Vietnam, Tonkin, Hoa-Binh, October 1939, 3 ♂, 7 ♂, July 1939, 3 ♂; July 1940, 10 ♂, 4 ♀, A. de Cooman leg.; Hoa-Binh, Mt. Bevi, alt. 800 – 1 000 m, July 1941, 2 ♀, A. de Cooman leg. (in MNHN). China, Hainan, 30 May – 5 June 1932, 37 ♂, 10 ♀, Qi He leg.; 22 May – 5 June 1934, 8 ♂, 4 ♀, collector unknown; 7 – 19 August 1934, 2 ♂, 1 ♀, collector unknown; 7 October 1934, 1 ♂, collector unknown; Feng-Ling Jian, 11 April 1980, 1 ♀, Fu-Ji Pu leg.; same locality, 10 July 1983, 1 ♂, Mao-Bing Gu leg.; Mt. Diaoluo, 3 August 1981, 1 ♂, You-Dong Lin leg.; Guangdong, Tongshi, 29 June 1960, 14 ♂, 3 ♀, Xue-Zhong Zhang leg.; same locality, alt. 340 m, 5 August 1960, 2 ♂, Gui-Fu Li leg.; Qionghai, July 1967, 2 ♂, collector unknown; Qiongnan, Nanfeng Forest Factory, 16 June 1977, 2 ♂, collector unknown. Guangxi, Pingxiang, 11 June 1976, 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Bao-Lin Zhang leg.; Shangsi, alt. 250 m, 30 May 1999, 1 ♂, Xue-Zhong Zhang leg. (in NZMC); Mt. Daming, Baise, 10 ♂, 1 ♀, 1 August 2011, Chen-Li Lei and Sheng-Chen Yang leg. (in MAHU). Distribution. China (Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi); N. Vietnam. Remarks. There are different opinions about taxonomy of Prosopocoilus crenulidens. Didier (1928) thought it was a good species and treated P. tonkinensis Pouillaud as its junior synonym. Bomans (1978) considered it as a doubtful species because its original description was not very corresponding with the current “ P. crenulidens ” we had known. What was worse, syntypes of P. crenulidens were missing in Paris Museum. We also tried to look for them in BMNH and OXUM, but any of them could not been found. In our view, Fairmaire’s description in males presented some targeted characters: “ 25 – 42 mm long, brown, quite shiny; similar to gracilis Saunders, but bigger and wider; mandible stronger and flatter with many more denticles; basal teeth sturdy, 3 apical teeth stronger; front tibiae processed multi-denticles, the others only with one median spine, … etc. ”. The description is mainly matched with the currently known males of P. crenulidens. Therefore, as Didier (1928) indicated that P. crenulidens was a clear species and P. tonkinensis was its junior synonym. It was most possible that Didier had examined type of P. tonkinensis, some specimens of P. crenulidens and other allied species from Mr. Boileau’s good collections due to these records in his paper (p. 20: piceipennis Westw. (6 ♂, 1 ♀), gracilis Saund. (57 ♂, 23 ♀), crenulidens Fairm. (35 ♂, 11 ♀); denticulatus Boil. Type (11 ♂, 2 ♀), cilipes Thomos. (35 ♂, 9 ♀) …] ”. According to the female described by Fairmire, its large size (30 mm) was slightly doubtful. Normally, females of P. gracilis species group were no more than 30 mm. Anyway, the female was not important to identify this species because it was very simply described in the original description. In addition, geographic variation is remarkable. Some males from Hainan (Figs 26 – 30) process broader mandibles than that of those from Guangxi (Figs 22 – 25), but the male genitalia are almost same. As it was above-mentioned, the variation should be influenced by compressive pressures from sexual selection, habitat fragmentation and niche competition in different eco-system.	en	Zhong, Fang, Bai, Ming, Ge, Yang, Wan, Xia (2014): Taxonomic revision of Prosopocoilus gracilis (Saunders, 1854) and its allied species from China (Coleoptera: Lucanidae). Zoological Systematics 39 (1): 136-148, DOI: 10.11865/zs20140102
B941DC621370FFC74C96FED2C217FE91.taxon	description	Lectotype designation. Syntypes were described by Boileau in 1901. We found one large male, one medium-sized male, one small male and one female were labelled “ Type sp. ” The large male with full developed mandible was selected as the lectotype, and others as paralectotypes. Type material examined. Lectotype of P. denticulatus, ♂ (Fig. 4), in MNHN, labelled: Lectotype (red label) / Type sp. (pale label) / denticulatus, Types ♂ ♀, H. Boileau (handwritten) / 229 / H. Tonkin, N. O. de Bao Lac, Dr. Battarel, 1897 – 1898; / Museum Paris ex Coll. R. Didier. Paralectotypes: 2 ♂, 1 ♀, labelled: type sp. (pale label) / H. Tonkin, N. O. de Bao Lac, Dr. Battarel, 1897 – 1898. [The Lectotype and paralectotypes were designated by Dr. Stéphane Boucher and Dr. Xia Wan]. Additional material examined. China, Guangxi, Mt. Daming, 6 ♂ (in MAHU). Yunnan, Xishuangbanna, Xiaomengyang, 23 July 1957, 1 ♂, Fu-Ji Pu leg.; Xishuangbanna, Mengzhe, alt. 890 m, 17 May 1958, 1 ♂, 2 ♀, Fu-Ji Pu leg.; same locality, alt. 1 050 – 1 080 m, 3 August 1958, 1 ♂, Fu-Ji Pu leg.; Xishuangbanna, Jinghong, alt. 650 m, 30 May 1959, 1 ♂, Xue-Zhong Zhang leg.; same locality, 3 September 1959, 1 ♂, 2 ♀, Shu-Yong Wang leg.; Xishuangbanna, Menglun, alt. 580 m, 8 September 1993, 1 ♂, Long-Long Yang leg.; Vietnam, Tonkin, Hoa-Binh, July 1940, 2 ♂, 2 ♀, A. de Cooman leg. (in NZMC). Distribution. China (Yunnan, Guangxi); N. Vietnam. Remarks. Prosopocoilus denticulatus once was treated by Arrow (1943) as a junior synonym of P. crenulidens without any discussion. Didier & Séguy (1953) reinstated P. denticulatus in its former valid status. Apparently, P. denticulatus is very similar to P. crenulidens in external morphology and they both are often sympatrically distributed according to the known records. But they actually can be recognized clearly based on the following characters: 1) male mandibles: basal teeth of P. crenuliden s blunt, bifurcated; that of P. denticulatus quite sharp, not bifurcated; 2) aedeagus: ventrally triangular teeth of PA in P. crenuliden s very long and strongly curved, so that the two teeth crossed to each other (Figs 55 – 57); that of P. denticulatus small, short and almost directly expanded, with additionally small denticles along posterior edges of these teeth to the bases of PA (Figs 58 – 60), which is unique in all the allied species from China. Due to the two species’ differences, it is necessary to correct some longstanding wrong diagnoses of them especially in some popular illustrations, such as Mizunuma and Nagai (1994) and Fujita (2010), photos of “ P. crenulidens ” should be “ P. denticulatus ” in their books, and vice versa. Also, the recently-published species, P. katsurai Fujita, 2010 is purposed as a new junior synonym of P. denticulatus during this study. Holotype picture of P. katsurai in Fujita’s illustration surely is as same as that of P. denticulatus. Also, all of them come from N. Vietnam, type locality of P. katsurai is Dong Van County, Ha Tuyen, where is not far from the locality of P. denticulatus (Bao-Lac County).	en	Zhong, Fang, Bai, Ming, Ge, Yang, Wan, Xia (2014): Taxonomic revision of Prosopocoilus gracilis (Saunders, 1854) and its allied species from China (Coleoptera: Lucanidae). Zoological Systematics 39 (1): 136-148, DOI: 10.11865/zs20140102
B941DC621373FFC04C96FE12C1EBFD9B.taxon	materials_examined	Material examined. China, Guangxi, Baise, 21 July 2010, 8 ♂, Ying-Bin Li leg. (in MAHU). Distribution. China (Yunnan, Guangxi). Remarks. This species is similar to P. gracilis, but there are differences between them. Remarkably, males of P. gracilis slender and narrower in body shape; sub-apical tooth absent or like a very small knob; the ventrally triangular tooth of PA small, short and blunt. On the contrary, male body relatively stout and broad in P. similis, sub-apical tooth very marked and the tooth of PA large, long and sharply. Also, aedeagus of P. similis is similar to that of P. piceipennis, especially the tooth of PA. But they can be differed with frontal depression, male mandibles and pronotum as figures showed (Figs 18 – 21, 39 – 42). Funding This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31071954, 31201745) and the Research Fund for Young Scholars, Ministry of Education of China (20103401120006).	en	Zhong, Fang, Bai, Ming, Ge, Yang, Wan, Xia (2014): Taxonomic revision of Prosopocoilus gracilis (Saunders, 1854) and its allied species from China (Coleoptera: Lucanidae). Zoological Systematics 39 (1): 136-148, DOI: 10.11865/zs20140102
B941DC621373FFC04C96FE12C1EBFD9B.taxon	description	Acknowledgements We are grateful to Dr. Stéphane Boucher (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France), Mr. Max Barclay, Mr. Malcolm Kerley (Natural History Museum, London, UK), Mr. Darren Mann and Mr. James Hogan (Oxford University Museum of Natural History, UK) for their help during the corresponding author visited these museums; to Dr. Luca Bartolozzi (Zoological Museum ‘ La Specola’, University of Florence, Firenze, Italy), Mr. Michele Zilioli (Milan Natural History Museum, Milan, Italy) for their help during the corresponding author studied in Italy; to Dr. Klaus-Dirk Schenk (Wehretal, Germany) for examining his beautiful private collection. Many thanks are also to: Mr. Jian Yao, Ms. Hong Liu, Dr. Mei-Ying Lin and Dr. Hong-Bin Liang (The National Zoological Museum of China, Beijing) for loaning some specimens.	en	Zhong, Fang, Bai, Ming, Ge, Yang, Wan, Xia (2014): Taxonomic revision of Prosopocoilus gracilis (Saunders, 1854) and its allied species from China (Coleoptera: Lucanidae). Zoological Systematics 39 (1): 136-148, DOI: 10.11865/zs20140102
