CROATIAN FAUNA 2005 - STAG BEETLE

Stag Beetle – Lucanus cervus L. The stag beetle is the best known insect of the Lucinidae family. The majority of this family (and there are more than 900 species) are characterized by enormously developed strong mandibles in both sexes, though they are usually larger in males and they make this feature a recognizable sexual biform. The insect’s body is more than 7.5 cm in length, out of which the mandibles make a third of the length in males. On their inner side the mandibles are serrated and resemble the antlers of a stag – which is the reason for the whole species to get its name. The insect has on its head tenfold antennae that end in laminated dilatations. The females are somewhat smaller and their mandibles are not so enormously developed, though they can powerfully bite with them. Their bodies are dark brown. The stag beetle is the largest insect in Croatia and is a protected species. It is spread out in Central and Southern Europe and Asia Minor. It dwells in oak forests, in rotten trees and stumps. They live in oak forests close to rotten trees and stumps. Adult insects feed on plant juices and fly at sunset. They lay their eggs in rotten stumps or into the ground close to them. The larvae develop through a period between 5 to 6 years, mostly in cut-down oak trees, in the root niches of leaf forests, only rarely in coniferous trees. After that they change into the pupa stage and remain in larger tree hollows where they completely develop by autumn, though they do not leave the pupa before the summer of the next year.