Abstract
The Seventh Immature Beetles Meeting was held in Prague on October 5-6, 2017. Just like as two years ago, it took place at the Faculty of Science of the Charles University in Prague and was organized in cooperation with the Department of Entomology of the National Museum and the Crop Research Institute in Prague.
In total, 63 participants from Europe, South America, Asia and New Zealand attended the meeting (see the list of participants and the group photo in Fig. 1). The attendance has increased since the fi rst meeting took place in 2006.
More than 40% of the participants attended the meeting for the fi rst time, and we were again pleased to host not only the established scientists in beetle systematics but also many students. Eighteen oral lectures and one poster were presented, covering a wide spectrum of topics concerning nearly all major clades of beetles (Adephaga, Hydrophiloidea, Staphylinoidea, Scarabaeoidea, Byrrhoidea, Buprestoidea, Elateroidea, Chrysomeloidea and Curculionoidea).
The contributions embraced many interesting topics such as unusual adaptation of immature beetles in environments like caves and bromeliad plants, DNA barcoding and its role in ecological and faunistic monitoring, as well as biographic memories of the life and work of the great immature-beetle pioneer, Fritz Isidore van Emden. After the presentations were fi nished, an optional visit to the Coleoptera collection of the National Museum took place, and was enjoyed by the colleagues who joined.
As it became a tradition for the Immature Beetles Meeting, the discussion about beetle topics continued in a traditional Czech pub on both evenings.