View of Nature: Stag Beetles Top

ASCDC
E-NEWSLETTER

No. 04
Stag Beetles

View of Nature: Stag Beetles


Writer/Shih-Chieh Huang

(人氣:963hot)

http://newsletter.asdc.sinica.edu.tw/file/file/106/10605.jpg

Trigonophorus rothschildi has typical shining green body color.

 
Dung beetle‚ metal beetle‚ rhinoceros beetle‚ and “chian-ku-a” (Minnan dialogue) are names of “beetles” called by our elders called them durning my childhood. To explain these terms literarily‚ dung beetles‚ namely‚ are beetles which eat dung; metal beetles are beetles with shining body colors like metal; rhinoceros beetles are longhorn beetles with long feelers; “chian-ku-a” refers to scissor-like big jaws of stag beetles. Among them‚ the stag beetle has been my favorite since childhood.    

Catharsius molossus which eats dung is the “dung beetle” called by the seniors.
 
I still remember that the first time I found stag beetles was in my third grade of elementary school. One morning‚ I went exercising with my grandmother in the mountain at the rear of The Grand Hotel. Given that I liked to get close to insects in the forest‚ I hit a tree by accident while I was chasing butterflies. All of a sudden‚ I heard something falling down from the tree. Out of curiosity‚ I tried hard to find the object in the underbrush and finally found a brown stag beetle on a pile of withered leaves. Now‚ when I recall it‚ I discover that the stag beetle I found at that time was the male Prosopocoilus motschulskii‚ whose powerful curved big jaw and special body color impressed me a lot.
 
Currently‚ there are 54 species of stag beetles in Taiwan. First‚ I wan to share the three most commonly seen species of stag beetles with everyone. Although they are very common species‚ they have their own characteristics which impress people a lot.
 
Dorcus titanus sika is famous for theflat sides of its body. It has a jet black body color; some of beetles become dark brown under the strong light.  An imago absorbs sap from the trees or mature rotten fruits. I still remembered that once when I went video recording in Toucheng Farm in Yilan and had the lunch under a tree during the break‚ I heard a strange sound from the ground. I turned around and found two male giant stag beetles fighting against each other for a rotten fig fruit. From their big jaws with keenly clipping sounds‚ one can see their fighting nature. Many insects‚ including giant stag beetles‚ have phototaxis. People can find them in suburban mountains around the downtown area and undeveloped medium-altitude forests. In summer night‚ one may observe them quietly stay in the underbrush under the street light in the mountain areas.
 
Odontolabissiva is the largest species of stag beetle in Taiwan as far as anyone knows to the present. However‚ the general public does not understand that the characteristic of odontolabis siva is that the big jaw of males has three different types of teeth: short teeth‚ medium teeth and long teeth. The males with short teeth resemble the sharp and short jaw of female‚ which makes people frequently mistake the males for the females. The males with medium teeth are curved and strong as the “clamp”; they have various shapes of jaws‚ making them the target of collection for insect lovers. The males with long teeth are long and straight‚ so only they can reach the longest body length. Through many years of my observation‚ the males with long teeth appear frequently in the mountain area of North Taiwan and the males with short and medium teeth appear more in South Taiwan. As to the reason for such situation‚ we wait for interested researchers to find out through further records and observations.

The Odontolabis siva with long teeth is the “dream selection” for many insect lovers.
 
Neolucanus swinhoei is a very famous species of stag beetle. Given its showing timing around National Day of the Republic of China (October 10th)‚ it has an interesting name- “Beetle of National Day”. My initial impression was that they crawled along the edge of forests or roads mostly around the suburban mountain areas nearby. At that time‚ I thought that they could not fly; later‚ with friends who loved to observe insects‚ I found that they would fly to the certain tree to absorb sap and find an object for breeding. While looking up at them flying from the tree‚ I felt as if I was dreaming. Several years later‚ I found their presence in the northern mountain area with the altitude of about 1500 meters; however‚ they appeared earlier in July every year‚ which was different from the regular groups recognized. I once thought that they were different species of stag beetles‚ but this puzzle was soon solved by my friend who studied species classification. Although they lived at the altitude with the difference of 1000 meters and they appeared differently in a year‚ they seemed to be the same species given their exterior appearances and characteristics of classification. Perhaps‚ our problems will be solved through the support from the results of research in Molecular Biology.

Neolucanus swinhoei (Bates) the so-called “Beetle of National Day” appears in the northern mountain areas.
 
The mystery of natural ecology always attracts people to continue exploring. Whether there are unsolved puzzlesof currently known species in terms of classification or ecological behaviors? Such puzzles may be solved suddenly through a picture or field observation‚ which is one of reasons why I am passionate about exploring every place.

 
The flying Yellow Feet Mountain Stag Beetle (Lucanus miwai) during daytime. Shot in Cingjing Farm Nantou County.

More photos on Cyberisland: http://cyberisland.teldap.tw/graphyer-item-view_1.php?album=4535&id=125991632483#

 
 



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