Lesser stag beetle ♀

Description:

The lesser stag beetle is a large beetle with a broad head and large mandibles. It can be distinguished from the male stag beetle by its smaller jaws and distinctively knobbed antennae, and from the small-jawed female stag beetle by its all-black wing cases. Adults are from 18 to 32 mm in length. They can be seen flying about at night, sometimes coming to outside lights. They mate and lay their eggs in a suitable piece of decaying wood.

Habitat:

The natural habitat is woodland, wooded parkland and gardens and it is a common urban species. Adults occur year round; in the winter within soft wood, under bark or logs or among vegetation piled around the base of trunks.

Notes:

A female lesser stag beetle spotted on a hiking trail in Renderklippen, Veluwe, Holland. (sources: see reference)