Iridescent Christmas Beetle from Australia
November 3, 2009
Hi, I’ve seen some recent posts about the brownish Christmas Beetles. Here are some photos of a gorgeous bright green beetle rescued from our swimming pool last summer. We always called these ones Christmas Beetles as kids (ignored the bworn ones), they were highly sought-after. The CSIRO site is fabulous if you know which bit of a beetle is which http://anic.ento.csiro.au/insectfamilies/, but I wouldn’t know a notoplural suture if it bit me (perhaps it has). Can you help? Thanks
Elizabeth
Melbourne, Australia (southeastern seaboard)

Rainbow Stag Beetle or Golden Green Stag Beetle

Dear Elizabeth,
WE aren’t certain, but we don’t believe this is a Christmas Beetle.  We don’t even think it is a Scarab Beetle.  We actually believe it is a Stag Beetle.  We found some matches on a BunyipCo Stag Beetle site.  A Lamprima species looks very close, and there is another image entitled “minor” male King Stag Beetle that also looks close.  Searching Lamprima brought us to the Brisbane Insect website, and a species called the Golden Green Stag Beetle, Lamprima latreillii, and we are happy with that as an identification.  It is also depicted on the Csiro website.

Rainbow Stag Beetle or Golden Green Stag Beetle

Correction:  Rainbow Stag Beetle or King Stag Beetle
Hi
This beetle is a Phalacrognathus Muelleri, commonly known as rainbow or king stag beetle. Both of the picture show females. plenty of info on web about these a commonly kept, i have a breeding pair at moment. hope this helps
Dixiedoo2

Dear Dixiedoo2,
Thanks for the correction.  Interestingly, the Bunyipco Stag Beetle site did not identify the King Stag Beetle by its scientific name.  The Insect Company website has an image of a pair with this information:  “This is possibly the most attractive of all the Stag Beetles with it’s irridescent green sheen. It is not a common beetle in the North Australian Rain Forest where it lives. The females lay their eggs in very specific types of rotten timber on the forest floor. Specimens will occasionally come to ultra violet lights just after dusk. The hour just after dusk seems to be this insects main flight time.” Those interested in raising this lovely beetle may want to reference the InsectaCulture Breeding Report we found online.  YouTube has a video of the beetles in the wild.

Huge freaking beetle
July 23, 2009
Hi!
I was out late at night with my boyfriend when we came across this large creature in a parking lot. My boyfriend wanted to kill it, I suggested we take a picture instead. Since I helped spare the life of this bug I was wondering if you could help identify what exactly it is?? Thank you!
Sarah
Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Reddish Brown Stag Beetle

Hi Sarah,
We are happy that you intervened in your boyfriend’s insecticidal tendencies since we would have been very sad to post your gorgeous Reddish Brown Stag Beetle, Lucanus capreolus, on our Unnecessary Carnage page.

Another Stag Beetle!
July 15, 2009
THANK YOU for choosing to make the stag beetle your “Beetle of the Month”. Why? Because my wife found one in the bathroom late last night (!), and I had to figure out what it was before either of us could go to bed. Posting an image on your home page made it quick and easy to get back to sleep knowing we didn’t have a martian invader in our home.
Based on some more research, it seems that maybe it’s unusual to find such a creature in NJ–only 12 miles from Manhattan.
Anyway, I didn’t kill the creature. But here is a picture of him trapped in a glass before I let him outside. (Well, first I checked that it wasn’t a poisonous monster.)
Thanks for your hard work on the site. It really was appreciated last night.
Russell Kahn
Montclair, NJ

Reddish Brown Stag Beetle

Hi Russell,
Based on the number of letters we have received with images of the Reddish Brown Stag Beetle, we chose the wrong species as our Bug of the Month.  The Giant Stag Beetle has much more impressive mandibles, but there doesn’t seem to be as many sightings.  We are happy that you were able to identify this close relative based on the image on our homepage.

Stag Beetle?
July 13, 2009
There were several of these bugs coming out of the ground/grass, where I had noticed holes about the size of quarters a few days prior, at dusk. Are these the giant stag beetles? I think there may be an old tree stump in the ground here.
Heidi
Northeast Ohio

Male Reddish Brown Stag Beetle

Hi Heidi,
Though this is a Stag Beetle, it is not the Giant Stag Beetle, our featured Bug of the Month.  Rather it is a relative in the same genus, the Reddish Brown Stag Beetle, Lucanus capreolus.  This is a male Reddish Brown Stag Beetle as evidenced by his large mandibles.

Reddish Brown Stag Beetle
Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 12:26 AM
Tonight I was taking one of my dogs out, and saw him sniffing at something on the porch by the door mat. I looked closer and found this reddish brown stag beetle. It’s been over 15 years since I’ve seen one here. I have attached one photo, but I took a total of 16 very good full resolution pictures of him that I uploaded to my insects & spiders set on Flickr. If you want to see the others too, the link is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andywayne/sets/72157621021785362/
Andrew Naylor
Frankton, Indiana

Reddish Brown Stag Beetle

Hi Andrew,
Though your Reddish Brown Stag Beetle, Lucanus capreolus, isn’t our official Bug of the Month, it is nice for us to be able to post a photo of another spectacular member of the genus.  Our readers may read more about the Reddish Brown Stag Beetle on BugGuide.

Red, possible rhino beetle of some sort.
Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 4:55 AM
A friend that lives in Atlanta, GA found this bug above her apartment door, on June 19, 2009. I did a bit of searching, and it looks much more similar to a Rhino Beetle than any other I could quickly find. I’m not sure if any are native to this area or not though.
Jenn
Atlanta, GA

Giant Stag Beetle

Hi Jenn,
This is the first image of a Giant Stag Beetle, Lucanus elaphus, we have received this year. Stag Beetles are only distantly related to Rhinoceros Beetles.  BugGuide has this information posted:  “Eggs are laid in crevices of moist, decaying wood. Larvae feed on decaying logs, stumps, where adults can be found in spring, early summer. (Presumably males battle there.) Larvae take one or more years to develop. Adults can be found at lights in early summer. Adults live two or more years, but one generation per year.
Remarks There is some conservation concern about this species. The related Lucanus cervus , of Europe, is threatened. See: Staines, C. L. Distribution of Lucanus elaphus Linnaeus (sic) (Coleoptera: Lucanidae) in North America. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 2001, vol. 55(4): 397-404. “