Lucanus elaphus

[happy1892]

Here is a picture of a Lucanus elaphus pupa I took yesterday.

 

[MantisMatt14]

Nice looks like a medium sized major male

 

[Rick]

Nice picture. Thanks for sharing. Been years since I've seen one.

 

[lilwo]

Awesome. I'm thinking about getting one in the larval stage

 

[happy1892]

Here is a female.

Here is a male that recently emerged:

 

[Hisserdude]

Awesome! Looks like a healthy major male!

 

[happy1892]

Awesome! Looks like a healthy major male!

Yep.

Better images of a pupa. This time a smaller male:

 

[CosbyArt]

Looks like your doing great with them. Nice to see them morphing to adults.

I'm curious though what are the spiral protrusions on the end of the abdomen?

 

[Brunneria]

Looks like your doing great with them. Nice to see them morphing to adults.

I'm curious though what are the spiral protrusions on the end of the abdomen?

That's its penis. lol

 

[CosbyArt]

That's its penis. lol

Ha, guess that his mandibles aren't the only big thing on him lol.

 

[Orin]

Stag species with short mandibles can get closer to the female and don't need the aid. I'm not sure if the allometry is equivalent within specimens of a given species since small males can have short mandibles.

 

[happy1892]

Female pupa, most likely L. elaphus:

 

[happy1892]

The same female as in the picture in the above post became an adult the other night.

 

[Hisserdude]

Wow, great set of photos, I wish my camera was that good! Are you going to breed them again?

 

[Hisserdude]

Oops, double post. Sorry.

 

[happy1892]

Wow, great set of photos, I wish my camera was that good! Are you going to breed them again?

Thank you. These guys I caught as larvae I found underneath moist logs on the ground in some woods around here in NC. Yes, I will certainly try to keep these in breeding (my first time trying to breed this species). I am thinking about going out and collecting some larvae again.

 

[Sticky]

They are beautiful! Do the adults eat? If so, what do they eat?

 

[happy1892]

They are beautiful! Do the adults eat? If so, what do they eat?

Yes, they eat bananas, apples, and other fruits as adults. An orange thing comes out from their mouth. In the wild though, this species might eat sap from some types of trees, but I am not sure, at least other species of stagbeetles do that in the wild.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=video&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB8QtwIwAGoVChMIusCI69-4yAIVC3M-Ch3pMwZL&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dmz1kR6CdOzw&usg=AFQjCNEyEz_Gh5HtIXM7Cu90l6g2hJJV6g

 

[happy1892]

Lucanus elaphus larvae are common here in North Carolina.  I wonder if I'll ever find L. capreolus larvae, or if I already have.

I can find several larvae underneath one log.  These guys below were found underneath a soft rotting fallen pine trunk (loblolly pine?):