Lucanini Latreille, 1804

Alekseev, Vitalii I., 2018, Scarabaeoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera) Of The Kaliningrad Region (Russia): The Commented Actual Checklist, Assessment Of Rarity And Notes To Regional Protection, Acta Biologica Universitatis Daugavpiliensis 18 (2), pp. 111-152 : 120

Tribe Lucanini Latreille, 1804 Genus Lucanus Scopoli, 1763

5. L. cervus cervus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Lentz 1853; Lentz 1879; Bercio & Folwaczny 1979; Alekseev & Sakhnov 2000.

Voucher specimens: 1 [Khrustal’noe, July 2003].

Kaliningrad Region: Pravd. (Friedland), Zel. (Galtgarben, Medenau, „Samland 1870“, Rauschen [ var. hircus Hbst. ], Warnicker Forst); Slav.

Comments: There are different verbal communication by the non-entomologists about the species in the area of the present-day Kaliningrad Region (1999 - Bagr., 1995 - Nest., 1994 and 1996 - Slav.), but the proofs are absent. The confusion with large Dorcus specimens seems to be very probable in most cases. According to the communication of Diana R. Savitskaite six specimens were collected in Slavsk district near Khrustal’noe village in July 2003 (“near old oak stump, in vegetable garden”); one of these specimens is deposited in the private collection of the author. The present-day absence of the old oaks the in the Khrustal’noe environments (the village is surrounded by the very moist alder forest and polder meadows) makes this finding enigmatic. The unique specimens is male of forma major: body length 42 mm, mandibular length 13 mm, all mandibular denticles equally long and developed .

The locally distributed and rare in the Region species is associated with oak and other broad-leaved trees ( Harvey et al. 2011, Bardiani et al. 2017), duration of larval stage is 5-6 years. Beetles occur on effluent tree sap. The species is included in the Russian Red Data Book (Korotyaev 2001) and is listed in the Red Data Book of the Kaliningrad Region ( Dedkov & Grishanov 2010). The species is probably extinct in Lithuania ( Tamutis et al. 2011), but it is considered “near threteaned” only at the European level ( Nieto & Alexander 2010). In the XIX century the species considered to be “not rare” in northern and central parts of the Sambian peninsula ( Lentz 1853). The actual presence of the stable population in the Region needs confirmation.