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Pinching bug Pseudolucanus capreolus - Linnaeus, 1763
now
Lucanus capreolus [1]
Identification hints:
Dark reddish brown, very shiny; femurs light honey colored.
22-40 mm long (including the mandibles).
Mandibles curved and sharply pointed, with one tooth on inner edge in male, and twice as long as those of female.
Occurs in north eastern USA.
Their larvae feed in dead or decaying wood of logs and stumps.
So even though they occur in woodland they will not damage your trees.
Attracted by lights, sometimes can even turn up indoors.
Below each picture is its author, place where it was taken, and the date.
A million thanks to all the site visitors who have sent me the pictures on this page.
Male Lucanus capreolus.
Photo by Martha Kneib, Florissant, MO, July 2003.
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Male Lucanus capreolus mandibles, close up view. Note the single knobs in the inner edges of the sharply pointed mandibles. Also the rounded labrum.
Photo by Wade Fulp, PA, August 2003.
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Ventral view of Lucanus capreolus. Note the honey coloured femurs, which are such an important identification clue. The single knobs on the mandibles are also very clearly seen.
Photo by Erica Willoughby, Bridgewater, NJ, 25 June 2004.
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Female Lucanus capreolus. Note the golden femurs and the smaller mandibles with just one tooth. For a close up view of the labrum click here.
Photo by Dan and Lorraine, Ashland, MA, July 2003.
For another good photo of a female, also showing the characteristic golden femurs, just click here in the Bugguide.
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Lucanus capreolus from larva to imago. Compare with the life cycle of Lucanus cervus. For more click on the pictures, they are all linked to the BugGuide.
Photos taken by Jim Occi, Cranford, NJ, summer trough to autumn 2003.
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Pinching bugs,in spite of their name and fearsome appearance, can in fact be handled with little fear of injury . Apparently the beetle below had pinched Stephen when he was scooping it out of his children's swimming pool. Afterwards, as you can see below, he was brave enough to handle it without any further trouble. However he felt that "these beetles had quite a grip with their sticky feet". In fact on the right photo one can see the way the beetle is gripping on to the finger with its hooked feet, and this makes them very difficult to remove. By the way, Stephen's finger is 10 cm long.
Photo of Stephen Floyd holding a huge male pinching bug, taken by Danette, his wife. Ottumwa, IA, 12 July 2004.
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Checklist of the Scarabaeoidea of the Nearctic Realm
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