Stag beetle

Description:

A male of stag beetle with its enormous mandibles, which are only enlarged in males and are not fuctional for feeding. Therefore, they can only eat liquid food. Females mandibles on the other hand can inflict a painful bite.

Habitat:

Lawn in our yard.

Notes:

Habitat loss and landscape fragmentation and in turn the loss of dead wood habitats have directly contributed to rapid population distribution decline in last 40 years. Threat status Europe: Near Threatened (IUCN) Protected by EU Habitats Directive and 2 other international agreements 2311 Natura 2000 sites are designated for the species.