The Longest Stag Beetle and Its Captive Breeding and Rearing
By Kay
INTRODUCTION
In the author's country, Japan, the stag beetle has gained its popularlity as a pet among hobbyists. Many exotic and native species alike are allowed to keep or breed and rear for pleasure.
Prosopocoilus giraffa is the longest of all 1,400 living stag beetle species in the world. These pages present an example of the captive breeding and rearing of Prosopocoilus giraffa. Discussion on its breeding and rearing follows its natural history, which is thought useful for breeders and rearers. There are 9 subspecies of the species Prosopocoilus giraffa (Mizunuma and Nagai, 1994):
1) giraffa Oliver, 1789 (max. 108 mm; northeastern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand,
Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia);
2) borobudor Mizunuma et Nagai, 1991 (max. 99 mm; Sumatra, Java and Bali Is.,
Indonesia);
3) daisukei Mizunuma et Nagai, 1991 (max. 114 mm; Negros and Sibuyan Is., Philippines);
4) keisukei Mizumuna et Nagai, 1991 (max. 124 mm; Flores, Lombok, and Sumbawa and
Tanahjampea Is., Indonesia);
5) makitai Mizumuma et Nagai, 1991 (max. 104 mm; Mindoro and Luzon Is., Philippines);
6) nilgiriensis Mizumuma et Nagai, 1991 (max. 102 mm; southern India);
7) nishikawai Mizunuma et Nagai, 1991 (max. 104 mm; Tahuna Is., Indonesia);
8) nishiyamai Mizunuma et Nagai, 1991 (max. 107 mm; Sulawesi Is., Indonesia); and
9) timorensis Mizunuma et Nagai, 1991 (max. 97 mm; Timor and Wetar Is., Indonesia)
Ssp. keisukei is considered as the longest living stag beetle in the world. While a wild-caught male imago specimen of 124 mm is possessed by a Japanese collector (Nishiyama 2000), a number of sources say that 118.0 mm is the recorded maximum length of a wild-caught male imago of Flores Is., Indonesia. That means, for beetle breeding and rearing enthusiasts, that the male of this subspecies has a potential of growing up to 124 mm long or even longer. Some breeders in Japan, both dealers and hobbyists, have reported the rearing of males of this subspecies from eggs or larvae (L3, weighing up to about 62 grams) to imagoes of nearly the upper-limit range of 115-118 mm (Fujita, 2008). The following discussion focuses ssp. keisukei, first introducing its natural history and then emphasizing its breeding and rearing method to win a good result. This breeding and rearing method can be applied to many other Lucanidae except some genera such as Agnus, Neolucanus and Odontolabis.
