S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 49. (Budapest, 1988)
FOLIA XLIX ENTOMOLOGICA HUNGARICA ROVARTANI KÖZLEMÉNYEK 1988 p. 211-216 Zoological collectings by the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Korea. 89. A report on the collecting of the Eleventh Expedition By Z. KORSÓS and L. RONKAY (Received February 20, 1988) Abstract: A detailed report and a total list of localities of the zoological collectings of the eleventh expedition in the D. P. R. of Korea in October, 1987, are given. The eleventh expedition of the fauna research program within the framework of the scientific agreement between the two countries worked in Korea in the period of 4-28 October, 1987. This was the first in the series of these trips when two botanists (D. KOVÁTS and Gy. SZOLLÁT) have also participated; their help in the field work fruitfully contributed to the zoological collectings as well as to the later evaluation of the results. The expedition has been realized relatively late: the collectings could be carried out immediately before the cold autumn period. The weather was, except for the first several days, sunny and mild at daytime, but cool or cold at night, having even frost in the last week of October south in the Kumgang-san. This period was not really suitable for the botanists; they could, however, collect phanerophyta and ferns, of course. But as regards the main object of our collectings, the Lepidoptera and Myriapoda groups, and concerning the ultimate investigation of this geographical unit, it was unquestionably an appropriate period. Our trip began on the 4th of October, 1987, and we arrived at Pyongyang via Moscow next day. We spent only two days in the capital, partly with discussions about our programs, partly with sightseeing in the city. Our original plan has only changed in one aspect: the trip to the Mt. Paekdu-san has been omitted by the Korean colleagues because of our late arrival. Other trips have, however, been planned for longer periods, accordingly. Main collecting places of our expedition were as follows: Mt. Myohyang-san (the word "san" means "mountain" in Korean), Nampo, Haeju and surroundings, and Mt. Kumgang-san; in addition we had the opportunity to collect around Pyongyang several times. In the use of the Korean geographical names we adopted the nomenclature elaborated by VOJNITS and ZOMBORI (1979). As regards our collecting methods, arthropods were mainly collected by singling - from vegetation, under stones and barks, sifting of forest litter and extracting by Moczarsky-Winkler funnel: beating and netting were not employed. Evening and night collectings were carried out with Tungsram HMLi 160 W lamps supplied from mains or a Honda generator, with sugar, and singling with handlamps; sometimes we collected on the lamppoles around the hotels as well. These collecting methods gave the usual results, except for the sugar, which showed a poor result: only seven moth (!) specimens by ten different trials. The phenomenon is quite surprising, in particular if we consider its well-known effectiveness in forest areas in springtime or in autumn. There was another interesting feature characterizing our night collectings: despite the cold weather with temperatures sometimes near to zero, moths came during the whole night, including several species (Antivaleria viridimacula , Blepharita arni ca ussuriensis , and especially Meganephria debilis ), which appeared mainly after midnight. Results of our collectings seemed to be much more influenced by the strength of wind - the weaker the wind the more intensive the swarming - , and by the slight temperature differences of different days.
