CreatureData

Stag beetle

Lucanus cervus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Status not recordedbeetles

The stag beetle (Lucanus cervus) is a species in the family Lucanidae, order Coleoptera. It has been recorded in 48 countries, most often in France, Sweden and Switzerland.

Stag beetle (Lucanus cervus)
Photo: Orchi · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the stag beetle

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Recorded in
48 countriessrc for Recorded in

Photos of the stag beetle

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Stag beetle (Lucanus cervus)
Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Stag beetle (Lucanus cervus)
No machine-readable author provided. Esv assumed (based on copyright claims). · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the stag beetle live?

Countries with openly licensed sighting records on GBIF. This shows where the species has been recorded, including zoos and introduced populations. It is not a definitive range.

The stag beetle has been recorded in 48 countries, from 110,540 records.

United States of America: 1 recordChile: 1 recordRussia: 212 recordsFrance: 41,041 recordsCôte d'Ivoire: 1 recordEq. Guinea: 1 recordLebanon: 2 recordsThailand: 3 recordsIran: 4 recordsSyria: 8 recordsSweden: 27,687 recordsBelarus: 1 recordUkraine: 3,797 recordsPoland: 48 recordsAustria: 985 recordsHungary: 1,770 recordsMoldova: 26 recordsRomania: 149 recordsEstonia: 1 recordGermany: 7,490 recordsBulgaria: 61 recordsGreece: 100 recordsTurkey: 65 recordsAlbania: 7 recordsCroatia: 3,287 recordsSwitzerland: 11,823 recordsLuxembourg: 6 recordsBelgium: 1,923 recordsNetherlands: 786 recordsPortugal: 588 recordsSpain: 745 recordsTaiwan: 1 recordItaly: 1,570 recordsDenmark: 68 recordsUnited Kingdom: 4,567 recordsSlovenia: 750 recordsSlovakia: 76 recordsCzechia: 204 recordsJapan: 10 recordsBosnia and Herz.: 16 recordsMacedonia: 4 recordsSerbia: 31 recordsMontenegro: 4 records
  • None on record
  • 1–9
  • 10–99
  • 100–999
  • 1,000+
records per country · small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same figures as a list, most records first

  1. France41,041
  2. Sweden27,687
  3. Switzerland11,823
  4. Germany7,490
  5. United Kingdom4,567
  6. Ukraine3,797
  7. Croatia3,287
  8. Belgium1,923
  9. Hungary1,770
  10. Italy1,570
  11. Austria985
  12. Netherlands786
  13. Slovenia750
  14. Spain745
  15. Liechtenstein609
  16. Portugal588
  17. Russia212
  18. Czechia204
  19. Romania149
  20. Greece100
  21. Slovakia76
  22. Denmark68
  23. Türkiye65
  24. Bulgaria61
  25. Poland48
  26. Serbia31
  27. Moldova26
  28. Bosnia & Herzegovina16
  29. Japan10
  30. Syria8
  31. Albania7
  32. Luxembourg6
  33. Iran4
  34. Montenegro4
  35. North Macedonia4
  36. Andorra3
  37. Jersey3
  38. São Tomé & Príncipe3
  39. Thailand3
  40. Lebanon2
Show 8 more countries
  1. Kosovo2
  2. Belarus1
  3. Côte d’Ivoire1
  4. Chile1
  5. Estonia1
  6. Equatorial Guinea1
  7. Taiwan1
  8. United States1

What is the stag beetle?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

Lucanus cervus, known as the European stag beetle, or the greater stag beetle, is one of the best-known species of stag beetle (family Lucanidae) in Western Europe, and is the eponymous example of the genus. L. cervus is listed as Near Threatened in Europe by the IUCN Red List.

Wikipedia contributors, “Lucanus cervus”, Wikipedia (revision 1384536175), retrieved 2026-11-11. Shared under CC BY-SA 4.0; this block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the stag beetle endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the stag beetle classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderColeoptera
  5. familyLucanidae
  6. genusLucanus
  7. SpeciesLucanus cervus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Lucanus scapulodonta, Platycerus cervus, Scarabaeus cervus

Names in other languages (9)
  • Lucane cerf-volantFrench
  • HirschkäferGerman
  • vliegend hertDutch
  • ekoxeSwedish
  • ヨーロッパミヤマクワガタJapanese
  • 歐洲深山鍬形蟲Chinese
  • حنظب أوروبيArabic
  • жук-оленьRussian
  • groot vliegend hertDutch

GBIFWikidataWikipediaNCBI TaxonomyEncyclopedia of LifeiNaturalist

Relatives of the stag beetle

Other species in the same order Coleoptera.

CompareStag beetle vs Seven-spot ladybird

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Where does the stag beetle live?

The stag beetle has openly licensed sighting records from 48 countries on GBIF. The most records come from France, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and United Kingdom. These are recorded sightings, not a definitive range.

What kind of animal is the stag beetle?

The stag beetle (Lucanus cervus) belongs to the family Lucanidae in the order Coleoptera.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Stag beetle (Lucanus cervus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/stag-beetle

MLA

“Stag beetle (Lucanus cervus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/stag-beetle.

BibTeX
@misc{stag_beetle_2026,
  title = {Stag beetle (Lucanus cervus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/stag-beetle},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}