Oxythyrea funesta, (PODA, 1761)

Alekseev, Vitaly I. & Bukejs, Andris, 2010, Contributions to the knowledge of beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera) in the Kaliningrad region. 1., Baltic Journal of Coleopterology 10 (2), pp. 157-176 : 161

9. OXYTHYREA FUNESTA (PODA, 1761)

Examined material: Since the year 2002, this species has been reported from two localities: 3 km E Chernyakhovsk, 54°38´47.3´´N 21°57´8.6´´E, 10.V.2009 (1 ex., on Taraxacum spp. flower, leg. A. V. Alekseeva); ~1,5 km E Chernyakhovsk ,

54°38´49.1´´N 21°53´4´´E, 21.VI.2009 (4 exx, on Knautia arvensis flowers, leg. V. Alekseev) .

Comments: According to the catalogue of Silfverberg (2004), it has been recorded from Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. On the territory of the former East Prussia, it has only been recorded from northern Poland ( Bercio & Folwaczny 1979), and from the Kaliningrad region it has been reported for the first time by one of the authors ( Alekseev 2002). The distribution of this species has essentially spread to the north during the last ten years and this forest-steppe beetle reached the St. Petersburg suburbs in the XXI century ( Bukejs et al. 2006). The imago feeds on the flowers of Compositae (often on Centaurea ), Campanulaceae , Dipsacaceae , Onagraceae , Rosaceae, Scrophulariceae and Umbelliferae. The larva is thermophilous, develops in soil and feeds on the roots of herbaceous vegetation.

ELATERIDAE LEACH, 1815