'' male (left) and female (right) |alt=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 some European countries (including the
United Kingdom) as
the stag beetle, or the thunder beetle; it is the largest terrestrial
insect in Europe.
Pliny the Elder noted that
Nigidius called the beetle
lucanus after the Italian region of
Lucania where they were used as
amulets. The scientific name of
Lucanus cervus adds
cervus,
deer. Male stag beetles are known for their oversized mandibles that are used to wrestle each other for favoured mating sites in a way that
parallels how
stags fight over females. Fights may also be over food, such as tree sap and decaying fruits. During a battle between two males, a stag beetle's main objective is to dislodge its opponent's
tarsal claws with its
mandible, thus disrupting their balance. Despite their often fearsome appearance, they are not typically aggressive to humans. Because its mandibles are capable of exceeding its own body size, stag beetles are generally inefficient runners and are very slow, typically feeling the need to
fly from one location to another. Female stag beetles are usually smaller than the males, with smaller mandibles that are much more powerful than the males'. As larvae, females are distinguished by their cream-colored fat ovaries visible through the skin around two-thirds of the way down their back. The
larvae feed for several years on rotting wood, growing through three larval stages until eventually pupating inside a pupal cell constructed from surrounding wood pieces and soil particles. In the final larval stage, "L3", the surviving grubs of larger species, such as
Prosopocoilus giraffa, may be the size of a human finger. In England's
New Forest, it was once believed that the stag beetle, dubbed the "devil's imp", was sent to antagonize corn crops. The
superstition led to
stoning the insects on sight, as observed by a writer in the
Notes and Queries. Along with
rhinoceros beetles, stag beetles are often bought as
pets in
South Korea and
Japan. == Evolution ==