Adults commonly about 45–60 mm long.
Fine-art photographic collection
Homoderus mellyi
A powerful African stag beetle whose entire mitochondrial genome has now been read letter by letter.
About this species
Homoderus mellyiParry, 1862
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Homoderus mellyi is a large West and Central African stag beetle. Males possess expanded mandibles used in contests, while recent genomic work has provided a complete mitochondrial sequence for the species.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Lucanidae · Homoderus
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
West and Central Africa, including CameroonBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
West and Central Africa, including Cameroon
Tropical forest with decaying hardwood.
Adults are mainly crepuscular or nocturnal and visit sap or fruit.
Larvae feed in decaying wood; adults take sap and ripe fruit.
Solitary.
What makes this species remarkable?
Its complete mitochondrial genome is 16,807 base pairs long and contains the standard set of 37 animal mitochondrial genes.
Male mandibles function as grappling tools for pushing and lifting rivals rather than as jaws designed to cut food.
The species depends on dead wood across West and Central African forest, linking its future directly to retention of mature, decaying trees.