Lesser Stag Beetle

A fine specimen of the Lesser Stag Beetle Dorcus parallelopipedus. It has a real look of being made out of leather. It scared the life out of my daughter who found it

Nice shots. I've seen two of the larger kind recently when walking home from the station. I fought the impulsle to put it in my pocket for later photography.

Well, the size of those pincers in my trouser pocket...? I won't suffer THAT much for the art...!!

thats good Alby ,hard to get a good shot with a flash what one did you use

Pete wrote in post #3548890
Nice shots. I've seen two of the larger kind recently when walking home from the station. I fought the impulsle to put it in my pocket for later photography.

Well, the size of those pincers in my trouser pocket...? I won't suffer THAT much for the art...!!

I bet you wouldn't have thought twice about it in your junior years

Courierman wrote in post #3548896
thats good Alby ,hard to get a good shot with a flash what one did you use

It's a 430ex with my home made diffuser made out of a small plastic box a peice of tesco carrier and a sheet of paper towel It seems to work a treat and I used it the other day to do some shots of my vain Daughter and they came out pretty darn good if I don't say so myself .

Attic wrote in post #3548910
I bet you wouldn't have thought twice about it in your junior years

In my younger years, I used to carry around one of those big cooks matchboxes for just such a situation. Something I no longer do (because I'm a grown-up!!)

Super shots Alby, of a lovely beetle. I've not seen any stags for years.
I grew up in Salisbury and there were loads of them around.
Thanks for posting.

Pete wrote in post #3548923
In my younger years, I used to carry around one of those big cooks matchboxes for just such a situation. Something I no longer do (because I'm a grown-up!!)

I know we're all grown up now but just haven't grown out of pond netting and looking for bugs. I think I'll always be a grown up big kid

skylab wrote in post #3548930
Super shots of a lovely beetle. I've not seen any stags for years.
I grew up in Salisbury and there were loads of them around.
Thanks for posting.

Thanks Brian, It's the first I've seen for quite sometime.

Oh what a beauty- excellent shots of a lovely beetle
How do you know it's a lesser rather than just a female stag beetle ?
Brian V.

LordV wrote in post #3549033
Oh what a beauty- excellent shots of a lovely beetle
How do you know it's a lesser rather than just a female stag beetle ?
Brian V.

I concur. THe lesser stag beetle appears to have mandibles that start closer together. This one appears to be a female stag.

Look here. http://www.bugsandweed​s.co.uk/beetles.html

LordV wrote in post #3549033
Oh what a beauty- excellent shots of a lovely beetle
How do you know it's a lesser rather than just a female stag beetle ?
Brian V.

Pete wrote in post #3549050
I concur. THe lesser stag beetle appears to have mandibles that start closer together. This one appears to be a female stag.

Look here. http://www.bugsandweed​s.co.uk/beetles.html

I based my identification on the colour and the tibiae has only 1 spike, stags have 3 spikes and this site http://www.insectacult​ure.com/dparallelopipe​dus.htm I think it's a male LS beetle still.

Alby, I think it is a LS beetle if you look at the eye indent it looks like LS beetle in my book.
The female stag is a bit different.

Nice shots - we usually get quite a few of the larger stag beetles in this area - but I haven't seen any this year!

skylab wrote in post #3549301
Alby, I think it is a LS beetle if you look at the eye indent it looks like LS beetle in my book.
The female stag is a bit different.

Thanks for the comfirmation Brian, I think it's a male LSB as the females between the two are quite similar but the male is quite different. I did check the leg spines to make sure.

DaveBinks wrote in post #3549308
Nice shots - we usually get quite a few of the larger stag beetles in this area - but I haven't seen any this year!

Thanks for the comment Dave, It's the first I've seen in a long time.

not seen one of those, well exposed.

I love #1. Well done. --Rick