Where’s the party?

Carpentry is a lonely chore. I am currently renovating the external stairs at our place and as I don’t have a shed it’s happening under the cover of the deck. It is a cold and lonely job at this time of the year. Last weekend I was kept company by this critter which spent many hours simply walking around the stack of wood I was cutting.

Barely a centimetre long this beetle is a scarab beetle which belongs to a subfamily called Stag Beetles, so called because of the extended jaws resemble the antlers of a stag. The females are smaller in size with smaller jaws. The male stags use their jaws to fight other male stag beetles for food or mates. In this species (whatever it is) the jaws are quite small. Some species have mandibles approaching the same length of the body in size. The fan-like antennae are composed of plates that can sense odours.

I managed to work the whole afternoon without squashing, nailing or painting the beetle as it kept up its forlorn wanderings – just a stag looking for a party.