Iacopo Nerozzi
Clash of Kings
Combat between two male stag beetles, Italy, 2022
Category - Into the Forest
During the mating season, male stag beetles (Lucanus cervus) go into a frenzy, with lively but harmless clashes, in which bigger males often have the advantage over smaller ones due to their impressive mandibles. Longer larval development and genetic traits can increase the size of some individuals, but all saproxylic beetles are threatened by poor forest management, logging and dead wood removal to ‘clean’ the forest. Many endangered species, such as stag beetles appear on Italian conservation organisation red lists. These two males photographed in a forest near Florence were engaged in a very brief duel on an oak branch. Since peak activity in stag beetles lasts only a few days each year, I had to wait patiently, dedicating about ten days of observation to capturing this moment.
15 mm f/2.8 Lens - 1/15 sec at f/16 ISO 800