Zavaljus brunneus

Z.brunneus is found in eastern and northeastern Europe, primarily around the Gulf of Bothnia (northern Sweden and southern Finland). More sparsely, it has been reported from Poland, Latvia, Slovakia, and western Russia; most likely it also occurs in Belarus, Estonia and Lithuania. This beetle is generally encountered in well-wooded habitat, usually primary or secondary broadleaf or mixed forests. It requires the presence of dry snags with densely grained wood to thrive, and might become temporarily more common after moderately-sized forest fires which leave numerous dead and dying trees standing exposed to the sun. Larvae of Z.brunneus have been retrieved from the wood of maples (Acer), alders (Alnus), birch (Betula) and poplars (Populus, e.g. Eurasian aspen P.tremula), which are all deciduous trees of the rosid clade. Larvae found in November hatched into adults the following March. In Białowieża Forest, Z.brunneus was found to share pieces of dead wood with a considerable diversity of other beetles from the same infraorder Cucujiformia: the cocoon-forming beetle Bothrideres bipunctatus (Bothrideridae), the bark-dwelling Cerylon histeroides (Cerylonidae), the minute brown scavenger beetle Latridius assimilis (Latridiidae), the longhorn beetle Xylotrechus rusticus (Cerambycidae), and the rare darkling beetle Neomida haemorrhoidalis (Tenebrionidae). More important to Z.brunneus …