Geodorcus helmsi.
Mohau.
Helm’s stag beetle is a large, handsome beetle, endemic to New Zealand. They have a wide-ranging habitat, which encompasses forests and tussock high country from Karamea at the top Southwest of the South Island, to Stewart Island at the bottom.
The males and females are quite different and distinctive from each other. The males have large arching mandibles, and an oversized thorax and head reminiscent of an armoured pugilist.
The males range in size from 17.5mm to 44mm, and the females from 16.5mm to 27.5mm.
I don’t think we know exactly what they eat. The larvae have mainly humus in their guts, and the adults have been observed feeding on sap from holes they have chewed in tree-bark, but their diet may be more varied.
Helm’s beetles are nocturnal, and hide by day under leaf litter, logs, and rocks, but being the slow-walking, flightless flaneurs of the beetle world, this does not save them from predation by feral pigs, and rodents. Bits of Helm’s beetle have been found to make up nearly 30% of the dried out contents of a feral pig’s gut. The are completely protected under the New Zealand Wildlife Act. Sadly, introduced predators don’t care about that.
Silver brooches