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False stag beetle
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Infraorder:	Scarabaeiformia
Superfamily:	Scarabaeoidea
Family:	Diphyllostomatidae Holloway, 1972
Genus:	Diphyllostoma Fall, 1901
Species
see text

The false stag beetles (Diphyllostoma) are a group of three species of rare beetles known only from California. Almost nothing is known of their life history beyond that the adults are diurnal and females are flightless; larvae have not been observed.

Their length ranges from 5 to 9 mm; bodies are elongate, with a generally dull brown to reddish-brown color. Both body and legs are covered with longish hairs.

Originally classed with the Lucanidae, Diphyllostoma have a number of characteristics not shared with any other type of stag beetle, and so in 1972 Holloway proposed a separate family Diphyllostomatidae, which has since been accepted.

A possible close relative has been reported from mid-Cretaceous aged Burmese amber in Myanmar, dating to around 100 million years ago.

Species

• Diphyllostoma fimbriatum (Fall, 1901)
• Diphyllostoma linsleyi Fall, 1932
• Diphyllostoma nigricolle Fall, 1912

Notes

1. Fall, H.C. (1901). "Two new species of Lucanidae from California". The Canadian Entomologist. 33 (11): 289–293.
2. Yamamoto, Shûhei (June 2024). "First fossil record of false stag beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Diphyllostomatidae): Evolutionary and biogeographical implications". Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology. 27 (2): 102259. doi:10.1016/j.aspen.2024.102259.

References

• Mary Liz Jameson and Brett C. Ratcliffe, "Diphyllostomatidae", in Ross H. Arnett, Jr. and Michael C. Thomas, American Beetles (CRC Press, 2001), vol. 2
• B. A. Holloway, "The systematic position of the genus Diphyllostoma Fall (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea)" New Zealand Journal of Science 15: 31-38 (1972)

External links

Data related to False stag beetle at Wikispecies

• Scarabaeiformia