Stag Beetle

Lucanidae

Stag beetles are some of the most well known and easily recognised beetles. In competing for mates, males use their enlarged mandibles for grappling rivals. Adult stag beetles are relatively short-lived, spending most of their lives in the larval stage, consuming rotting wood. These and other wood boring beetles play an important role in forest ecosystems, physically breaking up dead wood and accelerating colonisation by bacteria and fungi.

Collector: Guillaume de Rougemont
Sulawesi, 1977

This Museum holds the second largest collection of beetles in Britain, after the Natural History Museum in London. The efforts of one person – French amateur entomologist Guillaume de Rougemont – represent a significant contribution to the beetle collection. His gift for languages, fondness for travelling and love for beetles were ideal for a life of insect collecting around the world. This specimen is just one of approximately 45,000 beetles that he amassed over five decades, all of which were bequeathed to the Museum.