Fig. 1.
Comparison (average ± SE) of mass of elytra (red columns; n = 271) and abdomens (blue columns; n = 124) across 28 local Stag Beetle Lucanus cervus populations in Europe. Notes: (1) The masses of elytra (F27,243 = 2.94, P < 0.001) and abdomens (F25,98 = 4.18, P < 0.001) both vary significantly among these populations. Similarly, the masses of both these body parts differ significantly per individual population across all these sites (body part × population interaction term: F27,367 = 2.41, P < 0.001). (2) The masses of elytra and abdomens (for each n = 26) were both positively correlated with the longitudes (for georeferences, see Table 1) of the sampling sites (Pearson r = 0.583 and 0.491, P = 0.002 and 0.011; respectively), but not with their latitudes (r = 0.228 and 0.056, P = 0.262 and 0.787; respectively). However, because of the small sample size and no sexing of the beetles, the results of this analysis should be treated with caution: they are presented only for the purposes of this paper, and may not represent the actual variation in body size of L. cervus across Europe.