Stag beetle

Stag beetles
	; Male Lamprima aurata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia;
Phylum:	Arthropoda;
Class:	Insecta;
Order:	Coleoptera;
Suborder:	Polyphaga;
Infraorder:	Scarabaeiformia;
Superfamily:	Scarabaeoidea;
Family:	Lucanidae; Latreille, 1804
Subfamilies
	Aesalinae; Lampriminae; Lucaninae; Syndesinae

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Stag beetles are a group of about 1,200 species of beetle in the family Lucanidae, presently classified in four subfamilies^[1] Some species grow to 8 cm (3¼ in), but most are about 5 cm (2 in).

The English name is derived from the large and distinctive mandibles found on the males of most species, which resemble the antlers of stags.

A well-known species in much of Europe is Lucanus cervus, referred to in the United Kingdom as "the" stag beetle (it is the largest terrestrial insect in the UK). Pliny the Elder noted that Nigidius called the stag beetle lucanus after the Italian region of Lucania where they were used as amulets. The scientific name of Lucanus cervus is this word, plus cervus, deer.

Male stag beetles use their jaws to wrestle each other for favoured mating sites, but despite their often fearsome appearance they are not normally aggressive to humans.

Female stag beetles are usually smaller than the males, with smaller mandibles.

The larvae feed for several years on rotting wood, growing into grubs which in larger species may be the size of a human finger.

[edit] Taxonomy

See Taxonomy of Lucanidae Currently the only means of identification of world species is the excellently illustrated text by Mizumuma, T. and S. Nagai. 1994. The Lucanid Beetles of the World. Mushi-sha, Tokyo. 337 pp.

Mating pair

Stag In Flight

Cacostomus squamosus

Dorcus curvidens

Dorcus parallelipipedus

Lamprima adolphinae

Lucanus cervus Male

Lucanus maculifemoratus

Lucanus swinhoei

Odontolabis cuvera

Odontolabis femoralis

Prosopocoilus astacoides

Prosopocoilus giraffa

Rhaetulus crenatus

[edit] References

^ Smith, A.B.T. (2006) A review of the family-group names for the superfamily Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) with corrections to nomenclature and a current classification. The Coleopterists Bulletin 60:144–204.