David
Element
Wildlife
Photography
and Digital
Video Images
____________________ Beetles 11 - Stag-Beetles 2

STAG-BEETLE Lucanus
cervus (m)
STAG-BEETLE Lucanus
cervus (m)

STAG-BEETLE
Lucanus cervus (f)

LESSER
STAG-BEETLE, OR DORCUS BEETLE Dorcus
parallelipipedus (m)

RHINOCEROS, OR
LEAST STAG-BEETLE Sinodendron cylindricum
(m)
- The sexual dimorphism and
hind-wing structure of the Stag-beetle are
illustrated. The digital photograph of the female was
taken in Brittany and the remaining pictures were taken
in the UK. More pictures of the male may be seen on Beetles 2 (this page also contains more information
about this species). The male Lesser Stag-beetle
(or Dorcus Beetle) is occasionally mistaken for a
female Stag Beetle although a difference in shape should
be evident from the photographs. Female Lesser
Stag-beetles are usually smaller than the males and
less heavily built. The male Rhinoceros Beetle
(or Least Stag-beetle) has an obvious upward
projection from the head although this is absent in the
female. The introduction of the first of these
vernacular names appears to be recent and the much larger
and more impressive Continental beetle Oryctes
nasicornis probably has a better claim to
it.
RECOMMENDED READING
- 'The Bulletin of
the Amateur Entomologists' Society' Volume 62 Number 451,
December 2003 contains some highly informative
articles about the British Lucanidae.
Links
to 'ARKive' species
accounts:
WEBSITE:
-> Beetles 1
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-> Index, Common Names
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