Lucanus cervus is one of the bigger and more impressive European beetle species. The largest males have huge extended jaws and can measure up to 8 cm. The adults can be found between june and july and can be seen flying around on hot and humid nights. It's larvae live during 3 to 5 years in dead wood on sandy or clay soils. For the development of the larvae the temperature has to be high enough. That's why the larvae require in Western Europe sunlit slopes on often South-oriented forest edges, hollow roads with woodsides, parks, fruityards, orchards, etc... In Southern Europe, finding good temperature conditions for the larvae is less a problem, so their development in dead wood is there less correlated to the occurence of south oriented slopes. The stag beetle is classified on the IUCN Red List as near threatened and it is a European habitat directive species (appendix II species).
On the foreground of the image, one can see the female. The male on the background has much bigger jaws, which are used in the fights between the males.