Saproxylic insects were collected during fifteen expeditions to the Republic of Kareliain summers 1991-94. A total of 63 species (48 beetles, 15 others) included in the Finnish red data book are reported. Fourteen species of Coleoptera and Aradus ribauti Wagner are reported as new for Karelia. Notes on the biology of e.g. Hylochares cruentatus (Gyllenhal), Rhizophagus puncticollis Sahlberg, Cis fissicomis Mellié, Sulcacis bidentulus (Rosenhauer) and Leptura thoracica Creutzer are given. The number of threatened species found is striking considering the short period of time spent collecting in the field. We ascribe this to the management history of forests in Karelia, especially to the large amount of decaying wood in managed forests even. The forests in Karelia will be of crucial importance in preserving biodiversity and the last viable populations of numerous species that have disappeared in other parts of Fennoscandia.

Distribution maps based on the UTM grid are given for G. stercorarius for the periods before 1960, 1960-1979 and 1980 onwards. Records made in the 1980s with data on the abundance are given in 10 km x 10 km squares. Though still widely distributed in Finland, G. stercorarius is no longer a common species. Changes in livestock rearing, especially the loss of permanent pastures, are suggested to be the main reason for the decline of this dung beetle. The related species G. stercorosus is still common, but G. vernalis may have disappeared from Finland.

The threatened species of the insect orders Heteroptera, Lepidoptera and Coleoptera found in Ruissalo, an island with widest oak forests of Finland, are listed. Of the 154 species of threatened Lepidoptera in Finland 12% (19 species) and of the 332 species of threatened Coleoptera 16% (53) are found in Ruissalo. A considerable part of the threatened species of both Lepidoptera and Coleoptera are dependent on oak. The most important areas of the oak forests are already under protection and the other parts of them belong to the national conservation program of herb-grass forests. A forestry plan prepared by the City of Turku considers the nature values of the island of Ruissalo.

Entomologica Fennica. Vol. 2:23. 9.IV.1991