The saproxylic beetle, Cucujus cinnaberinus, has received increasing research attention in Europe since the adoption of the Habitats Directive and establishment of the Natura 2000 network. The history of the species has been investigated as well as the influence of abiotic and biotic variables on the distribution of C. cinnaberinus in Slovenia which is at the limit of its range and also terra typica for the species. The species was first described in 1763 by Joannes A. Scopoli in Carniola, a duchy of the Habsburg Monarchy. Today, most of the territory of Carniola is situated within Slovenia. C. cinnaberinus is particularly common in the eastern part of the country, but very scarce in the mountainous western part. According to historical and recent distribution patterns of C. cinnaberinus in the former Carniolan territory, the region of Ribnica-Kočevje in southern Slovenia is proposed as the most probable type locality of the species. Although the bulk of the C. cinnaberinus population in Slovenia is confined to the lowlands, the species has been found up to 1095 m a.s.l., albeit at a much lower abundance due to the influence of climate and forest structure. Although C. cinnaberinus is a quite an opportunistic species regarding host tree selection, it has been shown to exhibit a preference for Tilia, Populus and Robinia. It is suspected that the high abundance of C. cinnaberinus in lowland floodplain forests is due to the recent human-induced increase in preferred fast-growing and shortlived host trees, i.e. the planting of poplar trees and spread of invasive Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) after the 1960s. In contrast, in montane forests, preferred host trees (e.g. Tilia) represent < 1 % of all growing stock. Although montane C. cinnaberinus populations are rare, they could still be important for the conservation of the species, since montane habitats cover the largest area within the species' distribution range. A peer-reviewed open-access journalAl Vrezec et al. / Nature Conservation 19: 191-217 (2017) 192

Despite two centuries of research in European subterranean habitats, which resulted in descriptions of numerous obligate subterranean beetle species, the role of ecological differentiation in speciation of subterranean beetles remains understudied. Discovery of a new genus and a species of Alpine subterranean Trechini beetles, Petraphaenops unguiculatus gen. & sp. nov., enables us to question the reasons for its morphological and ecological divergence. Multilocus, time-calibrated phylogeny and extensive morphological analyses were used to place the evolution of the species in a temporal and palaeogeographical framework. Set within the phylogeny of Alpine Trechini, the new genus is shown to have split from its sister-genus, Aphaenopidius, by the end of the Pliocene. The timeline of the split between these closely related genera corresponds to the onset of major orogenetic events in the southern Calcareous Alps. The orogeny dynamics, coupled with simultaneous diversification of subterranean habitats, presumably initiated ecological speciation and morphological diversification of this highly troglomorphic subterranean trechine genus.

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In the past few decades, there has been a sharp decline in specialised and rare species of ground beetles (Carabus) throughout Europe. Our aim was to determine the distribution trends of chosen species and their conservation status in Slovenia. Based on historical and recent data over the period from 1850 to 2018, distribution maps for 25 species of genus Carabus have been made. The reduction in distribution area size was used to evaluate the decline of each species in Slovenia and for assigning them to different categories of threat status. Our results show that a significant number of species from genus Carabus are in decline. Open habitat species of ground beetles (C. cancellatus), ground beetles that are dependent on mature, unmanaged forests (C. glabratus, C. croaticus) and species, very sensitive to climate change (C. irregularis) were found to be the most endangered. Currently, only 3 species are on the Red list of threatened species in Slovenia (C. auronitens, C. gigas and C. variolosus nodulosus), and based on our results, at least 10 species of ground beetles should be added to the existing list. Two species of ground beetles, C. kollari and C. montivagus, have already disappeared from Slovenia in the last few decades, therefore intensive ecological studies of the remaining species and immediate effective conservation strategies are essential.

Aim:The biogeography of European forests presents many interesting case studies, as inferred from phylogeography, contemporary population genetics, and distribution