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stag beetle or lesser stag beelte: |
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Morpheus Senior Member Joined: 30 Apr 2006 No. of posts: 54  View other posts by Morpheus |
Posted: 23 Jun 2006 I foung loads of stag beetle larvae and i was wondering whats what, so i looked on the internet and found one website that showed the two larvae and they are vertaully identicle could some one please give me a photo that distinguishes the two Gloucestershire`s first exotic pet show! http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/general-herp-chat/320967-glou cestershire-reptile-show-2010-a.html |
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Matt Member Joined: 09 Feb 2006 No. of posts: 23  View other posts by Matt |
Posted: 24 Jun 2006 Hi Where did you find the larvae, above ground or below ground?. If they were above ground then almost certainly they are Lesser Stag larvae, if they were found at or below gound level then they are probably Stag Beetles. Size is also a good indicator of the species - really large larvae over about 60mm long can only be Stag Beetles. There is no easy way to separate small Lucanid larvae or tell Stag Beetle or Lesser Stag apart from a picture - the larvae our three Lucanid all have the same basic body plan and look practically identical when small. If you keyed them out, the differences revolve round the number of setae (hairs) on the tarsal claws - Stag Beetles have 4-6 setae (can have up to 8 in some cases), Lesser Stag larvae only have 2 setae per tarsal claw. The Stag Beetle is a BAP species and the Lead Partner - PTES - are currently running a national stag beetle survey. If anyone sees (or has seen) and Stag Beetles this year we would very much like to have your records - they can be entered online at http://www.ptes.org/greatstaghunt. Regards Matt
BRAG - Berkshire Reptile & Amphibian Group |
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Morpheus Senior Member Joined: 30 Apr 2006 No. of posts: 54 View other posts by Morpheus |
Posted: 24 Jun 2006 I found them in a log that was smashed all over the path so i cant tell if they were above ground or below but im going there again to see how main there are some one will probably chuck the log away so im going to see if i could place them somewere else i found a bout seven in one go Gloucestershire`s first exotic pet show! http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/general-herp-chat/320967-glou cestershire-reptile-show-2010-a.html |
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-LAF Senior Member Joined: 03 Apr 2003 No. of posts: 317 View other posts by -LAF |
Posted: 25 Jun 2006 Location can be a handy guide too, Unless you live in the south or south east it's very unlikely to be a Stag Beetle larva. We found this bad boy in the garden yesterday that had managed to get itself stuck in some spider web (though the spider sensibly didn't bother coming out to look). I live Nr Nottigham so instant ID is Male Lesser Stag Beetle. Quite cool bugs though.  Out of interest Matt, you mention that Britain has THREE lucanid beetles, what is the third species? Lee. Lee Fairclough |
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Morpheus Senior Member Joined: 30 Apr 2006 No. of posts: 54 View other posts by Morpheus |
Posted: 05 Jul 2006 thx for the pic and i was wondering are lesser stag beetles protected as well? Gloucestershire`s first exotic pet show! http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/general-herp-chat/320967-glou cestershire-reptile-show-2010-a.html |
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Matt Member Joined: 09 Feb 2006 No. of posts: 23 View other posts by Matt |
Posted: 06 Jul 2006 [QUOTE=-LAF]Out of interest Matt, you mention that Britain has THREE lucanid beetles, what is the third species? The 'other' Lucanid species we have here is Sinodendron cylindricum, a small species up to 16 mm in size. Males have a horn on the pronotum and are sometimes called 'Rhino Beetles', though they are nothing like as large as some of the tropial 'Rhino Beetles' Regards Matt BRAG - Berkshire Reptile & Amphibian Group |
- stag beetle or lesser stag beelte |