Lucanus cervus (Michaels)

It is that time of the year again, when Halloween decor means more buggies for Blaine! OK, it is a little late for Halloween, but I only got this model today, a gift from a friend who picked it up at her local Michaels store in Minnesota a couple weeks before Halloween. It's a stag beetle. It is fairly stylized, but it seems to be influenced by Lucanus, and given the position of the mandibular teeth I am going with Lucanus cervus (Linnaeus, 1758). You can argue with the identification all you want, this is what I am going with :-).

The model is very large and robust. It measures 16.0 cm without and 21.0 cm with the mandibles. It appears bronze but it is actually brown plastic with gold highlights (the gold paint is not very well applied and it flakes off if you are not careful). I had seen these online and I am actually glad it isn't true bronze (metal is one medium I don't collect in, bronze statuettes in particular).

The underside reveals hooks in a couple locations, indicating it was designed to hang on the wall. I'll put mine on the floor with other large plastic figures.

This is something only for taxa-specific collectors like me or fans of fun, novelty-style toys and figures, if you can tear yourself away from museum-quality replicas!

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I can't help about the species identification and I use to believe deeply in your researches and knowledge. Despite the supposed lack of accuracy, I am sure it works perfectly for its purpose as a Halloween figure.

Congratulations