Stag Beetles - FAMILY LUCANIDAE, Golden Green Stag Beetle

The male in this family is usually larger than the female. Male and female look quite different. Male often has the mandibles greatly enlarged and prolonged forwards, i.e., their common name Stag Beetle. Some adult beetles do not feed while some feed on flowers.

Stag Beetle larvae live inside or beneath rotten fallen tree trunk, so they usually found in wetter forest habitats. They feed on mostly very soft, fungus-infested wood. Stag Beetle larvae look similar to Scarab larvae, are grub-liked, always live in concealed habitats, sluggish, cylindrical, c-shaped, with a well-developed head.

Golden Green Stag Beetle - Lamprima latreillii (L. latreillei)

This page contains information and pictures about Golden Stag Beetles that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.


Male, body length 35mm

The male Golden Stag Beetle is golden green in colour, becomes brightly golden yellow when under he sun. Male has the Stag in medium size. There are the orange-brown hairs in between the stags as cushion



In Karawatha Forest near the Lagoon, there is an area covered with young She-oak Pine trees. On mid summer Dec 2008 we found this Golden Stag Beetle flying between the short tree tops. It was flying slowly, as most other beetles, with wing-covers wide opened and flying-path swinging left and right. When it landed and rested on a tree top, we took those photos.



We found this beetle only once.



After we took a few pictures, the beetle practiced the common escape skill - drop and play dead. It dropped onto the ground with all legs in relax position and did not move a bit.



I picked up the beetle and it slowly walked on my hand. I encouraged it to walk to my finger tip, then it slowly flied away and disappeared in the forest.

A few days later, we went back to the Karawatha Forest, at the other side of the Lagoon, we found this female Stag Beetle struggling in a spider web. The web belonged to a Leaf Curling Spider, but the spider was not there. We released the beetle from the spider web and took those pictures.



The female Stag Beetle is quite different from the male. Its mandibles are small and its body is in dull brown colour. Their body size is about the same.



We put the beetle on leaves. After we took a few pictures, the beetle dropped onto the ground and slowly walked away.

Reference:
1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p 625.
2. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus & Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p227 and plate 15.18.
3. Beetles of Australia - Trevor J Hawkeswood, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1987, Plate 51.
4. Lamprima latreillii, 1806 - Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, 2008.
5. Lamprima latreillei Macleay - AICN Australian Insect Common Name, CSIRO 2004.
6. A Bit About Beetles In Brisbane - by Geoff Monteith, Save Our Waterways Now, 2008