Prague besides being a city of historical interest is also well-known for a number of nature reserves. The city is located in the so called Prague basin which spreads both sides of the Vltava river and its tributaries. The habitats of Prague basin are very diverse. The highly urbanised basin has always been exploited (agriculture, industry) and consequently its present character reflects all these activities. At present animal grazing ceased nearly completely and many open habitats are changing to more natural shrub communities and woodland by natural succession or by tree planting. In spite of the long lasting exploitation many areas of the Prague basin have escaped the attention of man. These areas are protected under the Czech law and are represented by remnants of nearly all natural habitats typical for the Central European colline belt: alluvial forest, thermophilous broad-leaved forest, acidophilous oak forest with peat-bogs, shrub-steppe formations and rocky steppes, sandbanks, heathland, wet meadows, marshland, river banks, and many others.
The local fauna of Buprestidae has been studied since 1997. To date 32 species have been recorded but it is likely that this number might increase in future as literature data give several more species (especially of the genus Cylindromorphus, Aphanisticus, and Trachys) and these beetles are believed to still occur in the study area. On the other hand several species that were recorded in the past are now considered to be extinct (Capnodis tenebrionis, Dicerca alni, and Dicerca aenea).
| Poecilonota variolosa variolosa (Paykull, 1799) | Agrilus derasofasciatus Lacordaire, 1835 | |
| Palmar rutilans rutilans (Fabricius, 1777) | Agrilus litura Kiesenwetter, 1857 | |
| Palmar dives Guillebeau, 1889 | Agrilus obscuricollis Kiesenwetter, 1857 | |
| Phaenops cyanea cyanea (Fabricius, 1775) | Agrilus laticornis (Illiger, 1803) | |
| Phaenops formaneki formaneki Jakobson, 1912 | Agrilus sulcicollis Lacordaire, 1835 | |
| Anthaxia godeti Laporte & Gory, 1839 | Agrilus angustulus (Illiger, 1803) | |
| Anthaxia quadripuncata quadripuncata (Linné, 1758) | Agrilus sinuatus (Olivier, 1790) | |
| Anthaxia candens (Panzer, 1789) | Agrilus betuleti betuleti (Ratzeburg, 1837) | |
| Anthaxia manca (Fabricius, 1767) | Agrilus populneus Schaefer, 1946 | |
| Anthaxia nitidula nitidula (Linné, 1758) | Agrilus viridis viridis (Linné, 1758) | |
| Chrysobothris affinis affinis (Fabricius, 1794) | Agrilus ribesi Schaefer, 1946 | |
| Chrysobothris igniventris Reitter, 1895 | Agrilus aurichalceus aurichalceus Redt., 1849 | |
| Coraebus elatus (Fabricius, 1787) | Agrilus hyperici (Creutzer, 1799) | |
| Agrilus biguttatus (Fabricius, 1777) | Habroloma geranii (Silfverberg, 1977) | |
| Agrilus cyanescens Ratzeburg, 1837 | Trachys minuta minuta (Linné, 1758) | |
| Agrilus convexicollis convexicollis Redt., 1849 | Trachys problematica Obenberger, 1916 | |
| In areas directly adjacent to the Prague basin 6 more species were recorded: | ||
| Anthaxia semicuprea Küster, 1850 | Dicerca berolinensis (Herbst, 1779) | |
| Chalcophora mariana mariana (Linné, 1758) | Agrilus subauratus Gebler, 1833 | |
| Buprestis rustica Linné, 1758 | Agrilus pratensis pratensis (Ratzeburg, 1839) | |
Map of Prague and its Surroundigs
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| Literature and Internet Links: | ||
| BILY, S. (1989):
Krascoviti (Buprestidae) - Academia, nakladatelstvi CSAV,
Praha 1989 GIGLI, M. (1999): Host plants of West-Palaearctic Buprestidae http://utenti.romascuola.net/bups/jewel.htm |
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| I wish to thank to: Michal Hoskovec for taking the pictures of beetles Stanislav Krejcik for scanning the negatives Martin Rejzek for translating the text |
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