Naturally found in Africa, they have spread to Russia (where they were first observed in 1961, in Moscow, by E. S. Smirnov), the Czech Republic and other eastern European countries, along with Germany (where the first example was found in 1985 in
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), Denmark and the United Kingdom. The species was first described as a new one in 1973, by
Rustem Devletovich Zhantiev, who named it
Attagenus smirnovi. The museums and scientific institutions of Northern Europe set up an international project to research the brown fur beetle's distribution in Europe and how this may be related to
climate change. Its research areas include which climatic conditions allow it to spread by flying from house to house. ==References==