Fig. 1. The area of investigations.
Dmitry TELNOV
Entomological Society of Latvia, the Section
of Coleopterology
Private address: Praulienas iela 4-35,
LV-1021, Riga, Latvia / Lettland; E-mail: telnov@parks.lv
Key words: Coleoptera, Lucanidae,
Baltic Sea region, fauna.
INVESTIGATION AREA
The area of this work includes the following European countries: Denmark (DK), Germany (D), Poland (PL), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Estonia (EE), Belarus (BY), Karelia Region (NW Russia, RU), Finland (FI), Sweden (S) and Norway (N) - Fig.1.
Countries of Western and Northern Europe such as DK, D, FI, S, N have a natural environment which has been largely destroyed by the long and intensive human economic activities. In these countries there are remnants of biotopes that have not altered greatly from their natural state, and most of them have now been designated as protected areas. In Eastern Europe (and particularly in the republics of the former USSR), the natural world has remained largely undamaged as a consequence of the non-intensive agricultural methods practised over many years. In these countries the situation regarding primary biotopes is not so problematical as in Western Europe.Fig. 1. The area of investigations.
Stag beetles develop in the rotten wood
of fallen or old trees. Because of this close connection with old and dead
trees, Lucanidae occur in old forests and parks. Lucanidae
species are more common in the countries of the eastern part of the Baltic
region (PL, LT, LV, EE, BY, RU) because the environment is better for them
there.
IDENTIFICATION
There are not problems to identified imago
of all species of the Baltic Sea region. But it is not so easy to identified
larvae. T.-E. LEILER (1950) gives an key to identification of Swedish stag
beetles' larvae in his work. I include figures of terminal segments of
some Lucanidae species from our region - Fig.2.
K. HURKA (1978) gives identification key to genera of Lucanids' larvae, too.Fig. 2. Terminal segments of larvae of Lucanidae (upper row in caudal view, lower row in ventral view).
