History of the expansion of the white spotted rose beetle Oxythyrea funesta (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) in the Příbram and Sedlčany regions (Central Bohemia)

Abstrakt: In recent decades, some previously rare or non-native species of plants and animals have spread in the Czech Republic. One of them is the white spotted rose beetle Oxythyrea funesta (Poda von Neuhaus, 1761) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae). This previously very rare species occured historically only in southern Moravia, but is today very abundant throughout the Czech Republic. We summarize the knowledge of the history of its spread in the Příbram and Sedlčany regions in Central Bohemia. The species was first recorded on May 16, 1999 in the Týnčany Karst, followed by rapid expansion in the region after 2000.

Klíčová slova: Cetoniini, flower chafers, flower beetles, Czech Republic, Czechia, Bohemia, faunistics, range expansion, protected species