📸 PhotoPhoto: No machine-readable author provided. Kugamazog~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Saw stag beetle
Prosopocoilus inclinatus (Saw stag beetle · ノコギリクワガタ)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A maximum male body length of 45 mm is slightly more than one and a half Korean 500-won coins (26.5 mm in diameter) (Comparison).
- 💡 In a Japanese study (Journal of Ethology), over 70% of encounters between males at feeding sites ended without a fight, and when fights occurred, the larger male tended to win the feeding spot.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The saw stag beetle is a beetle in the family Lucanidae living throughout Korea as well as in northeastern China and Japan.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body is reddish brown to blackish brown. Large males have huge mandibles curved like embracing arms, whereas small males have simple, straighter mandibles lined with many small saw-like teeth inside, showing extreme individual variation.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Adults gather on oak tree sap during the day and fly to lights at night. Larvae bore into and feed on half-rotten wood, becoming adults around July, and are thought to take 2–3 years from egg to adult.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
It is listed as 'Top-sa-seum-beol-le' (Korean name, P. inclinatus inclinatus) on the National List of Species of Korea, and Rural Development Administration materials record its domestic distribution as nationwide.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • catalogueoflife.org — 7ZQFG
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000017746 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000017746
- • wikidata.org — Q1189294
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Prosopocoilus inclinatus sjh.jpg
- • genebank.rda.go.kr — insectView.bo
- • species.nibr.go.kr — mainHome.do
- • link.springer.com — s10164-012-0350-0
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Melissa Broussard · CC BY 3.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Platycerus)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.