| False stag beetle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Illustration of Diphyllostoma fimbriatum (left), and its antenna (a), maxillary palpus (b), labial palpus (c), front tibia and tarsus (d), and hind femur and tibia (e) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Suborder: | Polyphaga |
| Infraorder: | Scarabaeiformia |
| Superfamily: | Scarabaeoidea |
| Family: | Diphyllostomatidae Holloway, 1972 |
| Genus: | Diphyllostoma Fall, 1901 [1] |
| Species | |
see text | |
The false stag beetles (Diphyllostoma) are a group of three species of rare beetles known only from California. Almost nothing is known of their life history beyond that the adults are diurnal and females are flightless; larvae have not been observed.
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Their length ranges from 5 to 9 mm; bodies are elongate, with a generally dull brown to reddish-brown color. Both body and legs are covered with longish hairs.
Originally classed with the Lucanidae, Diphyllostoma have a number of characteristics not shared with any other type of stag beetle, and so in 1972 Holloway proposed a separate family Diphyllostomatidae, which has since been accepted.
A possible close relative has been reported from mid-Cretaceous aged Burmese amber in Myanmar, dating to around 100 million years ago. [2]
