Species Lucanus elaphus - Giant Stag Beetle

American Stag Beetle. Incorrectly called the 'elephant' stag beetle, through misspellings of the specific name as 'elephus'.

Lucanus elaphus Fabricius, 1775: 2

= Lucanus carlengi Angell 1916: 70

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.

30-60 mm

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 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.

Key to North American Lucanus species here.

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.

The Michigan and Minnesota records are well beyond the typical range and should be considered erroneously labeled specimens.

Deciduous forests

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).

Adults may feed on plant juices, rotting fruit (?), and aphid honeydew.

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.

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 (sic) (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) in North America. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 2001, vol. 55(4): 397-404.

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)

Salsbury, p. 178 (6)

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)

Guide to New World Lucanidae, University of Nebraska-- Key to species, species pages.

Texas Insects--shows photos of male and female. The latter may be a misidentified male Lucanus placidus.

Clemson University--species account

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.