Phalacrognathus muelleri
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Phalacrognathus muelleri, colloquially known as the rainbow stag beetle, and also the king, magnificent or Mueller's stag beetle, is a species of beetle in the family Lucanidae. It is found in northern Queensland, Australia and New Guinea. It can come in red, green, black, and blue forms. It is the only species in its genus, Phalacrognathus, which is closely related to the genus Lamprima.
Phalacrognathus muelleri has been the official symbol of the Entomological Society of Queensland since 1973. In 1885 the species was named Phalacrognathus muelleri by Sir William Macleay in honour of Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, the Victorian Government Botanist. The genus Phalacrognathus was created at the same time.
Males of Phalacrognathus muelleri are the largest members of the family Lucanidae in Australia. Males range from 24 to 70 mm (0.94 to 2.76 in) in length, whereas the smaller females range from 23 to 46 mm (0.91 to 1.81 in). their beautiful colours fade after death and are difficult to photograph.
This species breeds in wet tropical areas. Up to 50 eggs can be laid by a female and these will take 10 to 14 days to hatch. The larva can be... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Rainbow Stag Beetle sighting in Daintree National Park on a given day, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 279th most-seen of the 856 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Rainbow Stag Beetle in Daintree National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March and June–October, the lowest months. That is one of Daintree National Park's driest months, with about 65 mm of rain against 380 mm in January.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rainbow Stag Beetle sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is mostly seen at night.
Only Daintree National Park, in our data
Daintree National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Rainbow Stag Beetle sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Lucanidae
The closest relatives of the Rainbow Stag Beetle that you can see in Daintree National Park (family Lucanidae, Stag Beetles) are Prosopocoilus torresensis (about 20%), Dorcus wickhami (about 10%) and Figulus regularis (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rainbow Stag Beetle is recorded against all the insects logged in Daintree National Park (14 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
