Osmoderma barnabita

Protection status:

Highly endangered species according to the decree no. 395/992 Sb.

Biotops:

Dead trees with cavities and bark pockets with loose debris.

Nutrient trees:

Deciduous (exceptionally also coniferous) trees, mainly oak and linden.

Expansion in the Czech republic:

In warm areas of southern Bohemia, southern and central Moravia, in Polabí and Poodří.

From the life:

They are mainly found in original pastoral forests with old, sun-drenched trees. Today it survives mainly in old trees in parks, alleys, fields and willow groves. It prefers sunlit hollowed-out trees with cavities in which the larvae develop, often in the middle and upper part of the trunk. Cavities must not be permanently exposed to rain. Adults move around the natal cavity, which they rarely leave. They are mainly active in the evening and at dusk. They are capable of flight, but only for short distances. When disturbed, the beetles emit a secretion that resembles the smell of leather (old leather). The development of larvae takes several years, at least three years.

Threats and protection

The threat lies primarily in the limited habitats where they can occur today. Nowadays, it has been pushed into the already mentioned anthropogenic biotopes. Individual populations are separate. Because they do not have the chance to meet more distant populations, they are prone to extinction from internal causes (genetic relatedness, diseases).

The rarity of the species is mainly due to the change in forest management, when grazing stopped and the forests changed from low and medium to high-stemmed forests. We also do not find the original composition of trees in the forests. Among other significant destructions of habitats, improper sanitation of hollows and their burning comes into consideration. Today, old trees in alleys are also being felled on a large scale, so it is necessary to prevent felling in the localities where they occur. An important point of protection is not to carry out clear-cutting and intensive logging in the places of occurrence and to leave exhibitions of dead old trees with cavities. It is desirable to grow trees in a looser canopy in locations where they live and in the immediate vicinity, and in case of a lack of trees, to create hollows, otherwise the populations will disappear.

European Rhinoceros Beetle (Oryctes nasicornis)

Protection status:

Endangered species according to the decree no. 395/992 Sb.

Biotops:

In damp litter of stumps and roots of dead trees below ground level, more often secondarily in sawdust piles and composts.

Nutrient trees:

Deciduous trees, especially beech and oak.

Expansion in the Czech republic:

In almost the entire territory of the Czech Republic, it is absent only in downright cold areas.

From the life:

We meet adults from spring to late summer, at dusk or in the evening. They can fly to the light. During the day, they are in shelters, for example in the trunk or in the crevices of trees. Females lay their eggs in rotting wood of fallen logs or stumps of deciduous trees. Most beeches and oaks, but we can often find larvae in piles of sawdust on sawmills or in composts. The larvae are large, plump, white to yellowish, the head is brownish-yellow, they grow up to 120 mm. The larvae pupate and form a cocoon.

Elater ferrugineus

Protection status:

Highly endangered species according to the decree no. 395/992 Sb.

Biotops:

Dead trees with loose decay in the hollows, the necessary presence of Osmoderma larvae or Oxythyreas.

Nutrient trees:

Oak, linden, willow (especially pollard willows).

Expansion in the Czech republic:

In the warm regions of southern Bohemia, southern Moravia, and in Polabí.

From the life:

Development of larvae mainly in cavities of trunks or thicker branches of old or very old deciduous trees. The larvae inhabit the bottom of the cavities filled with small debris and the excrement of the beetle larvae, on which their larvae feed. They live very stealthily and are mainly active at dusk and in the evening.

Threats and protection:

They are a typical indicator of well-preserved natural forest stands and old trees. There is a minimum of such forests in our territory and the species is often pushed into parks, alleys or willow groves. The habitat requirements of this species are in direct conflict with current modern forest management. It is threatened by the degradation and disposal of old trees and the conversion of natural forests into monoculture shady stands.

The main key to protecting the species is a complete change in forest management, leaving old trees, dead wood and trunks in the forest environment. Furthermore, lightening of forests in the form of felling, forest grazing, management in the form of low and medium forest is also suitable.

Dicerca alni

Protection status:

Red List endangered species.

Biotops:

A weakened or dying tree.

Nutrient trees:

Original alder stands along streams, less often birch, elm and hornbeam.

Expansion in the Czech republic:

In South Bohemia and Břeclavsko.

From the life:

We meet adults from May to June, mostly in xerothermic biotopes of a steppe character with sufficiently old trees. Adults are often seen on food plants, in which they also lay eggs. Old alder trees, which are well exposed to the sun for the majority of the day, are among the frequent food plants. They lay eggs under the bark of trunks or stronger branches, larval development takes approximately 2 years. The larvae pupate in late summer, then the adult hatches and hibernates under the bark, so adults can be found this way during the winter. The excursion openings are usually on the south, sunny side.

Lesser Stag Beetle (Dorcus parallelipipedus)

Protection status:

This species has no conservation status. However, he is a flagship species – its presence indicates a biologically valuable tree where less conspicuous endangered species can live.

Biotops:

Decaying rotten wood of dead trees.

Nutrient trees:

Deciduous trees, especially beech and oak.

Expansion in the Czech republic:

Throughout the territory in well-preserved, especially beech forests, and in non-forest green areas.

From the life:

They can be found in deciduous forests, parks and even in alleys in the middle of cities from the end of April to August. They have both day and night activity. They often climb over roads or sun themselves on the bark. They feed on the sap of deciduous trees, which they lick, but they can also feed on leaves. It does not attack healthy trees, often on dying or fallen individuals.