Wood-decay-fauna
Guides
Lucanus capreolus
reddish-brown stag beetle, pinching beetle
Lucanus capreolus is a large stag beetle in the family Lucanidae, native to eastern North America. Males possess elongated, curved mandibles resembling sickles or deer antlers, which they use in combat with other males at breeding sites. The species exhibits pronounced sexual dimorphism, with males larger and more dramatically mandibled than females. Larvae develop in decaying wood of deciduous trees, taking approximately two years to mature.