The stag beetle was discovered by Viktorija Adamoviča, a student of the Daugavpils University biology bachelor's study programme, who photographed a dead male stag beetle under an oak tree nearly 4 metres thick in the garden of a private house near Dobele. This species has not been reliably observed in Latvia for over 50 years. The previous finding of a stag beetle in Latvia for which a specimen is available dates back to 1969 (found by Aldis Verners), when a male of the species flew through a window into a house in Ieriķi. This specimen is currently housed in the Alūksne Museum.

Following receipt of the information from the student, Daugavpils University professor Arvīds Barševskis and leading researcher Dmitrijs Teļnovs surveyed the area where the stag beetle was found. There are three large oak trees growing in the house's garden, with several lightning scars on their trunks; some regularly exude fermenting oak sap, the availability of which is important for the stag beetle. Many younger oak trees grow in the meadows surrounding the house, where sheep graze, preventing the meadows from becoming overgrown. This is favourable for the development of this species.