A strong, brave, male, titan of a beetle is on the lookout for a mate. He starts climbing a towering tree because he can smell a female in its branches. He climbs, and climbs, and climbs until he stumbles across another stag beetle. Then he realizes that it is not a female but it is an angry male also looking for a mate! They spar on top of the gargantuan tree until he gets a hold under the enemy male with his huge mandibles and flings him off the top of the tree! He then keeps climbing undeterred from his goal.

This is a small glimpse inside of the life of a Stag Beetle (Lucanidae). The males wield their menacing mandibles in pursuit of dominance. What do male deer and stag beetles have in common? They both fight for the right to mate, and both are referred to as "Stag".

Stag Beetles come in all sizes, colors, shapes, and from many places. This is my favourite of the stag beetles. This is the Rainbow Stag Beetle of Australia. (Phalacrognathus muelleri)

These colors are unlike any that I have seen!

The life cycle of all beetles is the Egg, to the Larvae, to the Pupa, and finally the Adult Beetle!

In most Asian countries they actually view beetle fighting as a sport! People even bet on it!

These are truly amazing animals that are distributed throughout the world and have many different views cast on them. They are truly little tiny sumo wrestlers...

Keep on Bugging!

~Bradon (Bug Boy)

Written by Bradon Coy on 11/2/18