Colophon beetles are also known as Barnard's stag beetles after Dr. Keppel Harcourt Barnard (1887–1964) who pioneered studies of this genus while working at the South African Museum.
He distinguished himself at the siege of Thebes; but he was held in particular veneration at the court of Amphilochus at Colophon on the Ionian coast of Asia Minor, adjacent to Caria.
Zunz observed that the sentence quoted by R. Baruch and Moses of Coucy with regard to the year 804 C.E. (see above) might be the author's colophon—omitted by the copyist—showing the time of composition.