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Species Lucanus elaphus - Giant Stag Beetle
Classification Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Longhorn, Leaf and Snout Beetles)
Superfamily Scarabaeoidea (Scarab, Stag and Bess Beetles)
Family Lucanidae (Stag Beetles)
Genus Lucanus
Species elaphus (Giant Stag Beetle)
Other Common Names Elephant Stag Beetle, American Stag Beetle Synonyms and other taxonomic changes Lucanus elaphus Fabricius 1775: 2
= Lucanus carlengi Angell 1916: 70 Explanation of Names Author of species is Fabricius, 1775. Apparently species name is something of a reference to vertebrate zoology. The European Stag Beetle is Lucanus cervus. Cervus is Latin for deer/stag, and also the genus name for the European Red Deer, Cervus elaphus. (That species is holarctic, and called Elk or Wapiti in North America.) Elaphus is apparently a Greek word for deer. So the name elaphus is a reference to the Greek for deer or, more likely, to the scientific name for the Red Deer, for which the European Stag Beetle was also named. Very cute. (Based on Internet searches and correspondence, below.)
Thanks to Maria Fremlin for help on the origin of the scientific name and for pointing out that "Giant Stag Beetle" is the more accepted common name. Identification Very large. Body length 30-40 mm (males, without mandibles), 45-60 (males, including mandibles), females are 30-35 mm. Males are distinctive with elongated mandibles, huge size. Females are similar, but without huge mandibles. Differentiate from Lucanus capreolus ( Pseudolucanus capreolus) by dark legs, smooth (not punctate) pronotum. Mandibles of female L. elaphus have several small teeth, just one tooth in male (and female?) L. capreoulus. Labrum (upper "lip") is triangular in Lucanus elaphus (male and female), blunt in Lucanus capreolus(male and female). See Dillon, p. 567, figs. 432-435. (1)
Female L. elaphus is more brown, less punctate, than the very dark Lucanus placidus. Range Eastern/central United States (Virginia, Oklahoma, Illinois, Indiana, Carolinas, southward), more common in southeast. Quoting Staines, C. L. Distribution of Lucanus elaphus Linnaeus (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) in North America. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 2001, vol. 55(4): 397-404, found in the following states/provinces: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Habitat Deciduous forests Season Adults disperse and found at lights in May and June in North Carolina (pers. obs. Durham, North Carolina). Emergence reported July-August by one reference, likely refers to northeast. (2) Collected January and May-September, November, in North Carolina by Brimley (3). Food Adults may feed on plant juices, rotting fruit (?), and aphid honeydew. Life Cycle Eggs are laid in crevices of moist, decaying wood. Larvae feed on decaying logs, stumps, where adults can be found in spring, early summer. (Presumably males battle there.) Larvae take one or more years to develop. Adults can be found at lights in early summer. Adults live two or more years, but one generation per year. Remarks There is some conservation concern about this species. The related Lucanus cervus, of Europe, is threatened. See: Staines, C. L. Distribution of Lucanus elaphus Linnaeus (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) in North America. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 2001, vol. 55(4): 397-404. See Also female similar to, especially, female Lucanus capreolus and to Lucanus placidus
some large ground beetles, such as Pasimachus are similar--note the clubbed antennae of Lucanus, the thread-like or beaded antennae of PasimachusPrint References Dillon, p. 569, plate LVI #5--male, #6--female (1)
Milne, p. 552, fig. 217--gives life history (2)
Brimley, p. 209, gives season in North Carolina. (3)
Drees (4)--photo of female may be a male Lucanus placidus.
Arnett and Jacques #96 (5)
White, p. 136, plate 7 (7)
Papp, p. 196, figs. 668-671, illustrations larva, pupa, male, female (8)
Arnett et al., pp. 167-168, fig. 412 (9)Internet References Texas Insects--shows photos of male and female. The latter may be a misidentified male Lucanus placidus.
Insecta Culture has good photos of male and female
Dr. Jay's account--PhD zoologist based in Louisiana
North Carolina State University Entomology Collection has 151 pinned, including specimens from that state.
Univ. Kentucky--critter case files
Beetles of Florida lists from Panhandle. Works Cited | 4. | A Field Guide to Common Texas Insects
By Bastiaan M. Drees, John A. Jackman |  |
| 5. | Simon & Schuster's Guide to Insects
By Dr. Ross H. Arnett, Dr. Richard L. Jacques |  |
| 6. | Insects in Kansas
By Glenn A. Salsbury and Stephan C. White | |
| 9. | How to Know the Beetles
By Ross H. Arnett, N. M. Downie, H. E. Jaques | |
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