Golden stag beetle
The golden stag beetle is a shiny little beetle that gleams like metal. The males are golden green or yellow with colourful legs, and they have big jaws for fighting. The females are smaller and can be blue, blue green or brown.
How big is it?
How long is it?
How big is Golden stag beetle compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Males stand guard on rotting logs and use their big jaws to fight off other males.
Its colours are so different from one beetle to the next that scientists once gave it lots of different names.
In Tasmania people call it the Christmas beetle.
It walks around on the ground in the daytime and flies well too.
Most asked questions about Golden stag beetle
?What does the golden stag beetle eat?
Adults drink flower nectar, and the grubs eat rotting wood.
?How big is the golden stag beetle?
It is about 1.5 to 2.5 centimetres long.
?Is the golden stag beetle dangerous?
No. It is harmless, though a male may pinch a little with its jaws.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Lamprima aurata
- Group
- Beetles
- Family
- Lucanidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Coleoptera > Lucanidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Christmas beetle
Where the facts come from
- Lamprima aurata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Ypna. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
Stag beetle
Hercules beetle
Common glow-worm
Goliath beetle
Cockchafer
Mealworm beetle
Purple hairstreak
Clifden nonpareil
Giant lacewing
Giant walkingstick
Woolly beech aphid
Chequered skipper