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3 unusual facts about Stag beetle


Stag beetle

Pliny the Elder noted that Nigidius called the stag beetle lucanus after the Italian region of Lucania where they were used as amulets.

The scientific name of Lucanus cervus is this word, plus cervus, deer.

based on the work Catalogue illustré des lucanides du globe in Encyclopédie Entomologique (series A 27: 1-223) by Robert Didier and Eugene Seguy.


Blaubach

It is, however, unknown what symbolic meaning underlay this seal, but it is likely a reference to the local legend of the roebuck and the stag beetle.


see also

Lucanus cervus

The work of entomologist Charlie Morgan during the late 1970s discovered that the pupae of the stag beetle live in the soil for about 3 months, then emerge in summer to awkwardly fly off to mate.