Lucanus cervus

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:27 pm

Great shot Gerard, wasn't he in Jurassic Park?

Never realised the end of one of the mandibles was forked and the other not!

DaveW

lauriek · Post by **lauriek** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:42 pm

I suspect both are forked, I think it's just the angle of the other mandible which hides the fork...

Nice shot, I like the angle! Personally I would have cloned out the dark patch bottom right of the image...

augusthouse · Post by **augusthouse** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 5:40 pm

I'm not familiar with these guys, but it appears that an 'unforked' mandible would work well with a 'forked' mandible - providing a grab and crush mechanism.

Nice angle Gerard.

Gérard-64 · Post by **Gérard-64** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 7:51 pm

Thank you,actually both mandibles are forked(as said by Lauriek it is a question of angle).

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:18 am

A beautiful Stag beetle Gérard. I think most of these large jaws on beetles are used for battles between the males.