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Stag beetles and pedestrians
Unfortunately, stag beetles face up quite a lot of dangers during the flying season and one of them is from walking human beings.
In general, people take great care to move them to a safer place. Even so, it seems that quite a few of them get crushed, perhaps inadvertently, and that is why some of them suffer so little damage.
The basic characteristic of all these victims is a cracked pronotum and some protruded organs.
Lets's have a closer look at a couple of examples, a male and female, to see how much they revealed about their reproductive system.
First, a crushed male stag beetle with a lightly cracked pronotum and a protruding dark organ: the genital capsule, which encloses its genitalia (reproductive organs). They will enable him to mate.
Therefore, if the head were missing from this corpse, this organ would have been enough to enable a person with a keen eye to identify the victim as a male.
Photo by Maria Fremlin. Colchester, Essex, England. June 26 2006.
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Second, trodden female with a cracked pronotum and a lot of protruding fat. Note an egg sticking out, right at the end.
Photo by Maria Fremlin. Colchester, Essex, England. June 28 2006.
Stag beetles emerge with good fat reserves in their abdomen which will keep them though the season. They can do without eating or drinking.
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Ventral view of the same female taken the following day. The egg still shows very clearly because I kept her in the fridge. Otherwise it would have dried out very quickly.
Photo by Maria Fremlin. Colchester, Essex, England. June 29 2006.
Stag beetle females tend to walk around in search for suitable places to lay their eggs, even during the day; that is why they get trodden on so often.
Wherever possible, I dissect crushed females and find that they often have a few unlaid eggs which is a pity. The eggs are very beautiful. For a look at some, click here.
Interestingly, sometimes the female corpses may show other internal organs, including the mycangium.
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Last modified: Mon Jan 12 16:38:23 GMT 2015
| Main | Stag beetle predators | The Dying Stag Beetle - a story |