The stag beetle (Lucanus cervus) displays an outstanding sexual dimorphism. Male individuals (photos 1st and 2nd) are much bigger than female (photo 3rd) and are provided with enormous, heavy jaws that are used as sexual attraction and in the competition among males.
Despite its heavy weight, the stag beetle is able to loudly fly.
The warms feed on the wood of oaks and holm-oak for years.
The stag beetle is protected in Catalunya, in order to prevent from the depletion for coleccionism of its already low population numbers.
[photos Oriol Oms (1st and 3rd) and Jordi Badia (2nd)]
- See also Pseudolucanus barbarossa, a close species.
- See also the small stag beetle (Dorcus parallelipipedus).
- See the article Coleòpters, in Catalan, by Jordi Badia.