Slo.: roga, kleman - Habitat: grassland, pasture, near mixed woods with Fagus sylvatica, Ostrya carpinifolia and Picea abies dominant trees; poorly maintained forest; locally flat terrain, colluvial, skeletal, calcareous ground; relatively warm place, in shade; elevation 600 m (1.970 feet); average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Comment: Lucanus cervus is Central and South European species. It is probably the most attractive beetle of Europe. It can reach up to 8 cm in length. The male's huge 'jaws' (antlers, mandibles) give it a fierce appearance. In reality the mandibles are too weak to seriously injure one's finger. They are used in courtship displays and wrestling with other males much like with deer. Much more 'dangerous' are female's jaws in spite of the fact that they are much smaller (biological dimorphism). They can indeed inflict a painful bite. The larvae of the stag beetle live within rotting logs very long - up to five years before pupating. Contrary, pupas and adults live much shorter time, from a few weeks to few months only. The natural reaction of the beetle to an approach is to remain motionless. Hence they are benevolent objects for photographers. When I was young, spending my holidays in Bohinj Mountains of Julian Alps, I was seeing several stag beetles every year. Now before this find I haven't see it for last six or seven years. The population of this beetle is shrinking drastically in many places. It is already extinct in Denmark. Registered in the second appendix of the Habitats Directive of the European Union from 1992. The species is also registered in the third appendix of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Berne convention) of 1982. Pravilnik o uvrstitvi ogroenih rastlinskih in ivalskih vrst v rdei seznam, Uradni list RS, t. 82/2002 (Regulation of enlisting of endangered plant and animal species onto Red List, Official Gazette of Republic Slovenia, no. 82/2002) (2002). Ref.: (1) H.Garms, L. Borm, Fauna Europas, Georg Westermann Verlag (1977), translated to Slovenian; ivalstvo Evrope, Mladinska Knjiga (1981), p 382. (2) http://www.kerbtier.de/Pages/Themenseiten/enHirschkaefer.html (3) http://www.natura2000.si/uploads/tx_library/Priloga_5a_1351_bionomics_and_distribution_01.pdf
Slo.: alpski kozliek - syn.: Cerambyx alpinus, Rosalia lingicorn - Habitat: mixed wood edge, Fagus sylvatica dominant; found on woodchips near woodshed of a cottage; slightly inclined mountain slope, southeast aspect, relatively dry and warm place; skeletal, calcareous ground, elevation 600 m (2.000 feet), average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Comment: Rosalia alpina is a rare beetle. It is not the largest European beetle (it can be up to almost 4 cm long) but it is with little doubt one of the most striking and elegant beetles. Its beautiful steel-sky-blue-grey-black colors and very long antennae are unique. Males' antennae can be twice as long as the beetle itself. Females have shorter antennae (shown on my pictures). Its population has greatly depleted in recent decades and it is a protected species in Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia and also put on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species considered a vulnerable species.Eggs of the Rosalia alpina are deposited in the crevices of bark of beech tree (Fagus sylvatica) and in the cracks of dead tree trunks. Larvae take around three years to develop while the lifespan of adult beetles is only three to six weeks.Ref.:(1) Fauna Europas, Bestimmungslexikon, George Westermann Velag, Brounschweig (1997), translated to Slovenian, Mladinaka Knjiga, Ljubljana (1981), p 390.(2) http://www.arkive.org/rosalia-longicorn/rosalia-alpina/
