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Observations on the life history and habits of the stag beetle Lamprima aurata (Latreille)(Coleoptera: Lucanidae) in Tasmania.
Abstract
Ecology, trophic ecology, larval habits of Lamprima aurata (Lucanidae) in northern Tasmania
... The trophic flexibility of both larval and adult Lamprima aurata in Tasmania is well documented (Fearn 1996(Fearn , 2015(Fearn , 2016(Fearn , 2017(Fearn , 2020(Fearn , 2021Fearn & Maynard 2018) with a range of native and introduced plants, shrubs and trees utilised. Adult male L. aurata sever shoot tips on host plants with their mandibles to initiate a sap flow where both sexes feed and copulation occurs. ...
... Lamprima aurata is widespread throughout the warmer, drier portions of eastern and coastal Tasmania including eastern Bass Strait (Fearn 1996;Reid et al. 2018;ALA 2022). Densities vary widely, apparently based on availability of larval food sources. ...
... L. aurata readily exploits anthropogenic disturbance, particularly agricultural and forestry activities that clear land and leave large volumes of stumps and logs behind. In some situations, many thousands of beetles can be found at a location for several years until larval food sources are depleted (Fearn 1996). ...
A new eucalypt host plant is documented for adult Lamprima aurata (Lucanidae) in Tasmania, Australia.
Records of the occurrence of Lamprima aurata on western Bass Strait Islands, Tasmania is documented
... comm;Mathews 1984;Suzuki 1995). Aspects of the life history and habits of L. aurata throughout much of its Australian range are poorly documented with the exception of Tasmania (Fearn 1996(Fearn , 2015. ...
... Tasmanian populations utilise the decaying subterranean root systems of a wide variety of dead trees and stumps as a larval food resource. Adults appear to have a very flexible trophic ecology and feed on sugary secretions and exudates of plants, typically the sap but also occasionally nectar-rich blossom and overripe fruit (Fearn 1996(Fearn , 2015. Male L. aurata are unusual among the Lucanidae in having relatively small heads, dorsoventrally straight mandibles that meet when closed and a rounded, somewhat bulbous thorax. ...
... Male L. aurata are unusual among the Lucanidae in having relatively small heads, dorsoventrally straight mandibles that meet when closed and a rounded, somewhat bulbous thorax. The large male mandibles can therefore act like a pair of shears enabling males to sever the shoot tips and flower heads of a range of adult host trees and shrubs, principally smooth barked Eucalyptus in Tasmania but also ornamental Photinia sp. and Prunus armeniaca (Apricot) (Fearn 1996(Fearn , 2015. ...
Ecology, trophic ecology and reproductive ecology of Lamprima aurata in Tasmania
... These large mandibles serve two purposes: firstly, to sever the shoot tips of adult host trees; and secondly, to defeat a rival male in combat bouts for food and mates. In contrast, the mandibles of the female are very small and appear to have no specialised purpose (Fearn 1996;Fearn & Maynard 2015). ...
... In 40 years of observing these beetles in the wild, the author has only ever recorded males cutting the shoot tips of one noneucalypt host tree, a large ornamental (12 m tall) specimen of the temperate Asian Photinia sp. growing in a suburban Launceston garden (Fearn 1996). This particular tree attracted large numbers of L. aurata of both sexes for a number of consecutive years. ...
... Prunus armeniaca represents a previously unrecorded host tree for adult L. aurata (Fearn 1996). No L. aurata have been observed to feed on this tree in any of the previous five summers that the author has resided at this address. ...
Trophic ecology of Lamprima aurata
... The green and gold stag beetle Lamprima aurata is common and widespread in eastern and coastal Tasmania (Fearn, 1996). Because the annual emergence of this large and colourful beetle occurs around the festive season the Tasmanian public ubiquitously referring to it as the "Christmas beetle" although elsewhere in Australia this name is reserved for species of Anoplognathus (Rutelinae). ...
... Adults display considerable trophic flexibility, feeding on a wide variety of native and introduced trees and shrubs as well as nectar-rich blossom and rarely, overripe fruit. The only L. aurata population for which larval and adult trophic ecology is well studied is the Tasmanian one (Fearn, 1996(Fearn, , 2015(Fearn, , 2016. The most common adult food source is the sap from shoots of trees and shrubs. ...
... The most common adult food source is the sap from shoots of trees and shrubs. Female L. aurata have small, apparently non-functional mandibles (in terms of trophic ecology) whereas the enlarged mandibles of males serve a twofold purpose: severing shoot tips to initiate sap flow and fighting other males to defend cut shoot tips and the attendant females attracted to them (Fearn, 1996(Fearn, , 2016. So far in Tasmania three smooth barked eucalypts are known adult host trees (Eucalyptus viminalis, E. globulus, E. ovata), also the coastal shrub Ozothamnus turbinatus, an ornamental Asian Photinia sp. ...
Trophic ecology of Lamprima aurata in Tasmania. Ecology of Lamprima aurata in Tasmania
... imberbis Carter, 1926) and a common widespread species in eastern and southern Australia (L. aurata Latreille, 1817) (Reid, et al 2018). Lamprima aurata is widespread in coastal and near coastal mainland Australia from Cooktown in northern Queensland to the southern coast of Victoria and west from the Lakes Entrance, Victoria to Geraldton in Western Australia (Reid, et al 2018).Lamprima aurata is common and widespread in eastern and coastal Tasmania including the larger Bass Strait islands (Fearn 1996;Reid, et al 2018). ...
... Life histories and ecology appear to be analogous for those species for which field data have been collected (L. aurata, L. insularis, L. adolphinae) with larvae infesting decomposing timber, typically subterranean root systems and stumps in the cooler and drier parts of the range in the south and tablelands, and logs and dead standing trees in the more humid portions of the range in the tropics (Reid, et al 2018;Hangay & de Keyzer 2017;Fearn 1996;Suzuki 1995). ...
... These dimorphic traits are common in lucanids around the world (Goyens et al. 2015). Larger male size and mandibular length appears to be driven by competition for food resources and females (Emlen & Nijhout 2000;Fearn 1996Fearn , 2016Goyens et al. 2015). Males will fight over a prime shoot-tip, and typically the largest male will win and defend it. ...
The Lamprima stag beetles have a very complex taxonomic history with > 30 synonyms in use across the genus at various times. This history is explained by poor taxonomy which typically focussed on variation in trivial features such as colour, size, body proportions and surface sculpture (Reid, et al. 2018). A recent taxonomic revision of Lamprima recognises five species: one in New Guinea (L. adolphinae Gestro, 1875), two on isolated western Pacific islands (L. aenea Fabricius, 1792: Norfolk Island; L. insularis W.J.Macleay, 1885: Lord Howe Island), one in north eastern New South Wales (L. imberbis Carter, 1926) and a common widespread species in eastern and southern Australia (L. aurata Latreille, 1817) (Reid, et al 2018). Lamprima aurata is widespread in coastal and near coastal mainland Australia from Cooktown in northern Queensland to the southern coast of Victoria and west from the Lakes Entrance, Victoria to Geraldton in Western Australia (Reid, et al 2018). Lamprima aurata is common and widespread in eastern and coastal Tasmania including the larger Bass Strait islands (Fearn 1996; Reid, et al 2018). Life histories and ecology appear to be analogous for those species for which
field data have been collected (L. aurata, L. insularis, L. adolphinae) with larvae infesting decomposing timber, typically subterranean root systems and stumps in the cooler and drier parts of the range in the south and tablelands, and logs and dead standing trees in the more humid portions of the range in the tropics (Reid, et al 2018; Hangay & de Keyzer
2017; Fearn 1996; Suzuki 1995). Species in the genus are strongly
dimorphic with males typically having longer limbs, larger bodies and well developed mandibles in comparison to females (Plate 1). These dimorphic traits are common in lucanids around the world (Goyens et al. 2015). Larger male size and mandibular length appears to be driven by competition for food resources and females (Emlen & Nijhout 2000; Fearn 1996, 2016; Goyens et al. 2015). Males will fight over a prime shoot-tip, and typically the largest male will win and defend it. The adults feed on the sugary liquids that a plant produces when a shoot-tip is cut off. Males use their enlarged mandibles to make this cut, and then the flow of
sap is maintained by the feeding male. It appears to be the scent of the sap that attracts females to the location of the males which facilitates mating (Fearn 1996, 2015, 2016, 2017; Suzuki 1995). Tasmanian L. aurata are the only members of the genus for which adult food plants are well documented. Congregations of both sexes and mating pairs have been collected on the native grass Lomandra longifolia (Fearn 1996), native vine Clematis decipiens (Fearn 2017), coast everlasting Ozothamnus turbinatus (Fearn 2016), drooping she-oak Allocasuarina verticillata (Fearn 2017), gum trees Eucalyptus globulus, E. viminalis and E. ovata (Fearn 1996), ornamental apricot, Prunus armeniaca (Fearn 2015) and red
leaf photinia, Photinia sp. (Fearn 1996). All eucalypt species previously recorded as adult host plants in Tasmania are closely related smooth barked taxa. In this work we document the first record of a feeding aggregation on a 'stringy-barked' eucalypt, the giant ash, Eucalyptus regnans.
... This sap flow appears to attract females, and mating pairs will remain feeding at one severed shoot tip for up to a week. Males guard cut shoot tips and guard the attendant females from rival males and, if evenly matched, combat bouts will occur (Fearn 1996(Fearn , 2016. Sexual aggregations and feeding of adult L. aurata in Tasmania have been recorded on four species of Eucalyptus (E. ...
... Sexual aggregations and feeding of adult L. aurata in Tasmania have been recorded on four species of Eucalyptus (E. viminalis, E. globulus, E. ovata, E. regnans), drooping she-oak (Allocasuarina verticillata), coast everlasting (Ozothamnus turbinatus), native vine (Clematis decipiens), ornamental redleaf photinia (Photinia sp.), apricot (Prunus armeniaca) and the native grass (Lomandra longifolia) (Fearn 1996(Fearn , 2015(Fearn , 2016(Fearn , 2017Fearn & Maynard 2018). Mainland populations of adult L. aurata have been recorded feeding on Eucalyptus, Acacia, Allocasuarina and Melaleuca but precise host species and method of feeding are rarely documented (Hangay & De Keyzer 2017). ...
Adult specimens of Lamprima aurata (Lucanidae) discovered feeding at a natural sap flow on coast wattle or boobialla Acacia sophorae in northern coastal Tasmania.
... Ant species density was lower in frequently-burned plots than in long-unburned plots, suggesting this fauna may be sensitive to high burn frequency. In Canada, Boucher et al. 35 compared ant colonization of wood across a 60-yr post-fire chronosequence. Ant abundance increased for the first 30 years and then declined. ...
We tested the immediate and delayed effects of a low-intensity prescribed fire on beetles, ants and termites inhabiting log sections cut from moderately decomposed pine trees in the southeastern United States. We also explored co-occurrence patterns among these insects. Half the logs were placed at a site scheduled for a prescribed fire while the rest were assigned to a neighboring site not scheduled to be burned. We then collected insects emerging from sets of logs collected immediately after the fire as well as after 2, 6, 26 and 52 weeks. The fire had little effect on the number of beetles and ants collected although beetle richness was significantly higher in burned logs two weeks after the fire. Both beetle and ant communities differed between treatments, however, with some species preferring either burned or unburned logs. We found no evidence that subterranean termites (Reticulitermes) were influenced by the fire. Based on co-occurrence analysis, positive associations among insect species were over two times more common than negative associations. This difference was significant overall as well for ant × beetle and beetle × beetle associations. Relatively few significant positive or negative associations were detected between termites and the other insect taxa, however.
... The Lucanidae in general are well known for extreme male positive sexual size dimorphism, with many species displaying ornate mandibular development used to defend potential mates, food resources or both from rival males (Emlen & Nijhout 2000;Fearn 1996;Fremalin 2009). In addition, allometric development of the male mandible is common in the Lucanidae and has resulted in taxonomic uncertainties when only small sample sizes are available for study (Hangay & de Keyzer 2017). ...
The geographical distribution of the flightless stag beetle, Lissotes crenatus (Westwood, 1855), has been an entomological mystery for over 200 years. The species description was based on a single male specimen that was collected by the French during their voyage of discovery to the southern lands between 1800 and 1804. The type location for this beetle was recorded simply as Nova Hollandia, the historical European name for mainland Australia. This inexact locality has hindered researchers and enthusiasts in determining and finding the actual habitat for this species. This paper discusses the history of the type material and extrapolates on where the type specimens may have been found; gives more concise information on the distribution of L. crenatus in Tasmania; gives ecological notes on the variety of habitats; and provides some biological information on this species.
... has also been recorded in decaying roots and stems, however, this species is known to only utilize dead and decaying wood (Fearn 1996). Fruiting bodies of the saprotrophic fungus Mycena clarkeana (Grgurinovic 2003) were also occasionally found around the stem base of dead saplings, with or without beetle emergence holes. ...
First record of the use of sapling Banksia marginata by larvae of the jewel beetle Cyrioides imperialis.
Reliable information for the conservation of many insects is lacking due to a poor knowledge of their ecology. Here, we review the biological knowledge about the European stag beetle (Lucanus cervus), in which recent advances are improving the basis for successful conservation.
A review of the biological and ecological literature about this species identified an exponential increase in both total and peer‐reviewed articles after Natura 2000 regulations.
Recent progress in the last two decades has been made in solving taxonomic problems, as well as in habitat description through radiotelemetry and habitat models. Dependence on large old‐growth forest has given place to a more complex picture of habitat use along the distribution range of this species. Monitoring protocols have been developed that will allow to assess conservation status and actual decline.
Stag beetle conservation would benefit from a better understanding of larval demography, quantification of microhabitat requirements, landscape genetics and quantification of historical and current threats.
Lessons learned include the need to solve taxonomic problems and to target methodological bottlenecks. The stag beetle is one of the few European saproxylic organisms that can engage the broad public through outreach activities and therefore its role as an umbrella species should be promoted.
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