Daito Flat Stag Beetle

The Daito flat stag (Dorcus titanus daitoensis) is a subspecies of Dorcus titanus from Minamidaito and Kitadaito, about 360 km east of Okinawa Island, described in 1986. Males measure 22-65 mm and females 20-33 mm, the smallest Japanese subspecies; the BE-KUWA captive record is 65.0 mm (2005) and the wild record 53.5 mm. The body and legs are short and thick, the colour reddish black, and the mandibles have weak apical teeth but strong inner teeth even in small males. DNA analysis places it as the earliest-diverged Japanese subspecies, yet the Daito Islands were never joined to a continent, and rafting on driftwood is the favoured explanation for its arrival. Numbers are low; adults are active even in midwinter, and with emergence peaks in May-June and November-December they are thought to start activity without overwintering. Larvae are found in fallen logs such as Casuarina and grow large for the adult size. Farmland clearing since the Meiji era has left almost no forest, and the Ministry of the Environment Red List 2020 lists it as Vulnerable. It can be bred at 20-26 C with logs and fermented substrate, but avoid wild collecting, use captive-bred stock and never release beetles.

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Daito Flat Stag Beetle lives Adults 1-3 years.

The Daito Flat Stag Beetle grows to Males 22-65 mm (including captive; wild up to 53.5 mm) / females 20-33 mm.

The ideal temperature for the Daito Flat Stag Beetle is 20〜26℃.