Scarce Stag Beetle vs Flattened Giant Millipede Beetle

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Scarce Stag Beetle Flattened Giant Millipede Beetle
Scientific Name Platycerus caraboides Passalus unicornis
Order Coleoptera Coleoptera
Family Lucanidae Passalidae
Size 9-13mm 30-45 mm
Habitat Woodlands Woodlands
Diet Wood Feeders Wood Feeders
Regions Europe Central Africa (Cameroon, Gabon, DRC, Congo)
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Scarce Stag Beetle

A small metallic blue-black stag beetle with modest mandibles. It develops in red-rotten beech wood.

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Did You Know?

Despite being called scarce it is actually fairly common but overlooked due to its small size and dark coloring.

Flattened Giant Millipede Beetle

A large, flattened bess beetle with a shiny black body and a small horn on the head. Adults and larvae live together in rotting logs in a subsocial arrangement. Adults produce sounds by rubbing their hindwings against the abdomen.

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Did You Know?

Parents feed their larvae pre-chewed wood and communicate with them using stridulatory sounds, one of the few examples of parental care in beetles.