As we were preparing for our extremely elegant engagement party, this giant stag beetle fell off the back screen door while I was going to dump the compost. We called up the boys to come peer at it.
From what I read on
Bug Guide, I believe it is indeed a female
Lucanus elaphus. I will submit to them to be sure. It's very exciting for us to have encountered both this and the
rhinoceros beetle in such a short span of time and so accidentally.
After observing it for a bit and of course photographing it, the boys deposited our friend in the compost pile so she'd have plenty to eat. Though I'm not sure what exactly they eat... Ah, yes, perfect:
Food
Adults may feed on plant juices, rotting fruit (?), and aphid honeydew.
From what I read on Bug Guide, I believe it is indeed a female Lucanus elaphus. I will submit to them to be sure. It's very exciting for us to have encountered both this and the rhinoceros beetle in such a short span of time and so accidentally.
After observing it for a bit and of course photographing it, the boys deposited our friend in the compost pile so she'd have plenty to eat. Though I'm not sure what exactly they eat... Ah, yes, perfect: 
1 comment:
We just saw one for the first time the other day too! J and I saw it the night before and the next morning we found it on the porch no longer alive, so we collected it in a baggie to study. The kids were fascinated by it!
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