S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 46/2. (Budapest, 1985)
FOLIA ENTOMOLOGICA HUNGARICA ROVARTANI KÖZLEMÉNYEK XLVI. 2 1985 p. 31-40 On the distribution of the species of Megabothris Jordan, 1933 and Nosopsyllus Jordan, 1933 (Siphonaptera: Cerytophyllidae) in Hungary* By A. DUDICH and I. SZABÓ (Received 4 October, 1984) Abstract: The contribution summarizes data and evaluates unpublished knowledge on the distribution of Megabothris (G.) turbidus (Rothschild, 1909), M. (M.) walker! (Rothschild, 1902), Nosopsyllus (N.) fasciatus (Bosc, 1800) and N. (N.) mokrzeckyi (Wagner, 1916) in the Carpathian Basin (Hungary and states in it's neighbourhood). Two maps are also presented. There are 3 species of the genus Megabothris and 3 of the genus Nosopsyllus known from the area of the Carpathian Basin(SUCRJ, 1973; SZABŐ, 1975; ROSICKY, RYBA, 1977). They all are ectoparasites on rodents of the families Muridae and Arvicolidae; their host selection is not strictly exclusive. Species of the genus Megabothris . that are listed here, prefer, nevertheless, hosts of the family Arvicolidae (Clethrionomys , Microtus ). while that of the genus Nosopsyllus are related more closely to Muridae (Rattus. Mus, Apodemus ). On the Hungarian territory, in the central part of the Pannonian lowland (Fig. 1), there occur 2 species of the genus Megabothris - M. (G.) tur bidus (Rothschild, 1909); M. (M.) walkeri (Rothschild, 1902) - and two of Nosopsyllus - N. (N.) fasciatus (Bosc, 1800); N. (N.) mokrzeckyi (Wagner, 1916). Both species of the genus Megabothris belong to the complex of arboreal fauna (mesohygrophilous), while that of the genus Nosopsyllus belong to the fauna of steppes (xerophilous). The common feature of distribution of both pairs of species is that one of them (M. turbidus , N. fasciatus ) shows the distribution in the whole region of the Carpathians according to the suitability of habitats. On the other hand, the distribution of their congeneric pairs (M. walkeri, N. mokrzeckyi) is discontinuous, and probably relic, according to certain points, in which their occurrence is known. An other species of Megabothris (M. (M.) rectangulatus (Wahlgren, 1903) occurs in the high and top part of the Alps and the Western Carpathians, thus it does not reach the Pannonian lowland. * Report No. 22 from the project "Complex parasitological studies on small mammal populations", a co-operation between the Zoological Department, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, and the Institute of Experimental Biology and Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava.
