Does Any Insect Look Like a Baby Black Leach
Stag beetles are i of the near spectacular insects in the UK. The male person'southward large jaws look but similar the antlers of a stag. They spend most of their life hole-and-corner as larvae, merely emerging for a few weeks in the summertime to find a mate and reproduce. Stag beetles and their larvae are quite harmless and are a joy to watch.
Likewise every bit reading our stag beetle facts, please help us protect this threatened British species by telling us about where they live near you and by making your garden stag protrude friendly.
Identification
A stag protrude's head and thorax (middle section) are shiny blackness and their fly cases are chestnut brown.
Male person beetles appear to have huge antlers. They are actually over-sized mandibles, used in courtship displays and to wrestle other male beetles. Adult males vary in size from 35mm – 75mm long and tend to be seen flying at dusk in the summer looking for a mate.
Female beetles are smaller at betwixt 30-50mm long, with smaller mandibles. They are often seen on the ground looking for somewhere to lay their eggs.
The beetle near often mistaken for a female stag beetle is the bottom stag protrude. Nevertheless, bottom stags are blackness all over with matt wing cases, while female stag beetles take shiny dark-brown wing cases. Bottom stag beetles tend to have a much squarer overall look.
Download our beetle ID guide for a closer look:
A fully-grown stag beetle larva (grub) tin can be upwardly to 110mm long. They're fairly smooth skinned, have orange head and legs and brownish jaws. They are nearly ever found below ground and tin can be every bit deep as one-half a metre downward.
Img: James Wragg
Habitat and distribution
Stag beetles live in woodland edges, hedgerows, traditional orchards, parks and gardens throughout Western Europe including United kingdom – just not Ireland. Stag beetles are relatively widespread in southern England and live in the Severn valley and coastal areas of the southwest. Elsewhere in United kingdom they are extremely rare or even extinct.
Female stag beetles prefer light soils which are easier to dig down into and lay their eggs. Newly emerging adults too have to dig their mode upward through the soil to reach the surface, therefore areas like the Northward and South Downs, which are chalky, have very few stag beetles. They also prefer areas which have the highest average air temperatures and lowest rainfall throughout the year.
We're specially keen for people to record stag beetles in the counties on the border of their known range including Norfolk, Cheshire, Bedfordshire, Somerset, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Shropshire.
Also please keep a special eye open if you're visiting the following places: Richmond Park, Wimbledon Common, the New Forest and Epping Forest.
Diet
Larvae feed on decaying wood nether the footing. Adults tin can't feed on solid food – they rely on the fat reserves congenital up whilst developing as a larva. They tin use their feathery tongue to drink from sap runs and fallen soft fruit.
Habits
View photos and clarification of how stag beetle larvae pupate.
Stag beetles spend most of their very long life wheel clandestine as a larva. This tin can be anywhere from 3 to 7 years depending on the weather. Periods of very cold weather can extend the process. One time fully grown, the larvae go out the rotting wood they've been feeding on to build a large cocoon in the soil where they pupate and finally metamorphose into an adult. Adults spend the winter underground in the soil and usually emerge from mid-May onwards. By the end of August, virtually of them will have died. They do not survive the winter. During their short adult lives, male stag beetles spend their days sunning themselves to gather strength for the evening'south activities of flying in search of a mate. This is when you're near likely to spot them.
View a drawing of the stag protrude life cycle by clicking here.
Breeding
Males are often seen flight around at dusk searching for a mate. They will wrestle or fight other males using their enlarged antler-like jaws. Although they can fly, female beetles are most often seen walking effectually on the basis. In one case they've mated, females render to the spot where they emerged, if there is enough rotting woods to feed their young, and dig down into the soil to lay their small, circular eggs in rotting woods such as log piles, tree stumps and onetime fence posts.
Predators
Predators such every bit cats, foxes, crows, kestrels and others tend to strike at the nigh vulnerable stage in the beetle's life cycle, when adults are seeking to mate and lay eggs. Though this is largely natural predation, the rise in the numbers of magpies and carrion crows in the last decade may exist having an touch on on stag beetle populations.
Threats
The nearly obvious trouble for stag beetles is a significant loss of habitat. Many of London's surviving open up spaces take sadly been developed, including many woodlands. Development will go on to reduce stag beetle habitats, but increased sensation of their existence can help defend the beetles against development.
In improver the tidying of woodlands, parks and gardens has led to the removal of dead or decomposable woods habitats which is the stag protrude larvae's food source. Tree surgery operations such equally stump-grinding of felled trees removes a vital habitat for the beetle. Although tidying upwards nevertheless continues in gardens, woodlands and park managers are now much more aware of the need to retain dead and decaying wood as function of the woodland ecosystem.
Humans are, unfortunately, a directly threat to stag beetles. Developed beetles are attracted to the warm surfaces of tarmac and pavements, which makes them particularly vulnerable to being crushed by traffic or feet. Stag beetles have a fearsome appearance and sometimes people kill them because they await 'unsafe'.
Changes in weather patterns are as well likely to accept an impact on stag beetles. Uncommonly dry or moisture weather is likely to substantially touch on the larvae. Wet and windy conditions tin can inhibit adult beetles' flying power.
Stag beetles are harmless and do not harm living wood or timber. The larvae only feed on decaying woods so please don't kill them.
Condition and conservation
Stag beetles are legally protected from auction in the UK. They are also classed as a 'priority species', listed on Schedule 5 of the Wild animals and Countryside Act 1981. If stag beetles or their larvae are known or thought to be present at a site where an application for planning has been submitted, and are likely to exist disturbed or destroyed whilst piece of work is carried out at the site, it'southward recommended that someone with an understanding of the insects' requirements exist present to see that any larvae or adults are carefully translocated to a suitable natural or purpose-congenital habitat close by.
These magnificent beetles are Red listed in many European countries and have undergone a refuse beyond Europe. They have gone extinct in Denmark and Latvia, although there has been a successful reintroduction into one site in Kingdom of denmark in 2013 and a recent one off sighting in Latvia which local experts are investigating further.
We've been studying them for well-nigh xx years, with the aid of the public, and our partner organisations. Our national and international surveys help us to keep an middle on numbers and give the best advice on saving them. We also work hard to protect their homes such as orchards and woodlands.
- State of Britain's Stag Beetles 2018
- Slap-up Stag Hunt 3 written report, 2006-2007
- Dandy Stag Hunt 2 report, 2002
- Great Stag Chase report, 1998
How yous can assist!
Delight help us protect this unique British species by telling u.s.a. well-nigh where they live nigh you and by making your garden stag beetle friendly. Cheers.
If you find an adult stag protrude, please go out it where information technology is, unless information technology's in danger of being run over or trodden on. If y'all have to move a beetle for its own safety, and then please move it as short a distance as possible. Y'all tin can requite it some soft fruit or sugar water. If y'all dig upwards a stag beetle larva, please put information technology back exactly where you found it. The next best thing is to re-bury the larva in a safe shady place in your garden with as much of the original rotting wood equally possible.
For other stag beetle facts and questions please email stagbeetle@ptes.org.
Enquiry links and articles
Stagbeetle.info
Website dedicated to stag beetles from our partners at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Stag protrude mites
Article from the Suffolk Naturalists Society newsletter, by Colin Hawes.
Development of non-invasive monitoring methods for stag beetles
A paper from Insect Conservation and Diversity, past Harvey et al.
A collaborative conservation report across Europe
An commodity from Insect Conservation and Diverseness, by Harvey and Gange.
Bionomics and distribution of the stag protrude beyond Europe
Commodity from Insect Conservation and Diversity, past Harvey et al.
Source: https://ptes.org/campaigns/stag-beetles-2/stag-beetle-facts/
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