Introduction. The name of each listed species is followed by up to five sources that report the species as occurring in Michigan. Sources in all upper-case letters refer to specific insect collections: MSU-ARC refers to material held by the Michigan State University Arthropod Research Collection (data provided by G. Parsons). All others refer to collection data extracted from the Symbiota Collections of Arthropods Network (SCAN) database online at https://scan-bugs.org/. See the Methods page for a list of abbreviations and associated collections.
Species names preceded by a single '?' are considered probable (for occurring in Michigan) but uncertain records. Those preceded by '??' are considered possible but unlikely to occur in Michigan. Species that are fully accepted as having valid Michigan records are unmarked. Species reported in the literature that we consider to be erroneous Michigan records are in a separate list following the others.
LUCANIDAE
3 subfamilies, 4 tribes, 5 genera, 8 species
Subfamily Aesalinae
Tribe Nicagini
Nicagus obscurus (LeConte, 1847): Paulsen and Smith (2005), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), MSU-ARC
Subfamily Lucaninae
Tribe Lucanini
Dorcus brevis (Say, 1825): Paulsen (2010)
Dorcus parallelus (Say, 1824): Paulsen (2010), Andrews (1916), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), MSU-ARC
Lucanus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1763): Andrews (1916), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), BugGuide, MSU-ARC
Lucanus placidus Say, 1825: Andrews (1916), Andrews (1923), BugGuide, MSU-ARC
Tribe Platycerini
Platycerus depressus LeConte, 1850: Andrews (1916), Andrews (1923), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), MSU-ARC
Platycerus quercus (Weber, 1801): Andrews (1916), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), BugGuide, MSU-ARC
Subfamily Syndesinae
Tribe Ceruchini
Ceruchus piceus (Weber, 1801): Haack and Ruesink (2020), Andrews (1923), Hatch (1924), Hubbard and Schwarz (1878), MSU-ARC
The following species was also reported from Michigan, but we consider it to be adventive, a misidentification or other error:
Subfamily Lucaninae
Tribe Lucanini
Lucanus elaphus Fabricius, 1775: Staines (2001); based on one specimen labeled MI at Ohio State Univ., presumed mislabeled
This family list was last updated: January 13, 2023