Please wait while the next page arrives.
Mila'sExotic Plants & CuriositiesA living collection by Luminary OdditiesLuminary Oddities · Natural history & art
Cyclommatus metallifer
Coleoptera / Lucanidae
Cyclommatus metallifer is a Sulawesi stag beetle with a metallic brown body and exceptionally elongated male mandibles. Its slender weapons combine powerful gripping with bite-force adjustment, making the species a model for the mechanics of animal combat.
Read the species account
Cyclommatus metallifer (Boisduval, 1835) belongs to Lucanidae in Coleoptera. Museums Victoria holds an identified specimen collected in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, on 5 December 1989. [1]
In male contests, the mandibles grip an opponent and the front legs help pitch the body upward to throw the rival backward. The enlarged head shifts the male’s centre of mass forward. In a laboratory comparison, males used shorter, more frequent strides than females at equivalent normalized speeds. [2]
Bite measurements found that males reduced jaw-muscle force by 18% when biting at the slender tips rather than at the larger teeth halfway along the mandibles. Finite-element models supported a reduction in cuticular stress from this force adjustment. [3]
Microscopy found mechanoreceptors distributed through the jaw surface. Their spatial distribution correlated strongly with the calculated pattern of material stress during biting, supporting a sensory feedback mechanism for controlling force. [4]
Models based on laboratory walking trials estimated a mechanical cost of transport almost 40% higher in males than in females. The longer male front legs did not restore the stability lost through the heavy head and jaws. [2]
Keep the enclosure closed and display it in indirect light, away from heat and damp conditions. Handle the frame by its edges and clean only its exterior according to the maker’s instructions.
Museums Victoria · Accessed 2026-10-11
Goyens, Dirckx and Aerts; Functional Ecology 29, 35–43 (2015) · Accessed 2026-10-11
Goyens, Soons, Aerts and Dirckx; Journal of the Royal Society Interface 11, 20140908 (2014) · Accessed 2026-10-11
Goyens, Dirckx and Aerts; Arthropod Structure & Development 44(3), 201–208 (2015) · Accessed 2026-10-11
Sources checked 2026-10-11. Illustrations · Luminary Oddities.
Return to the Entomological Atlas ↑