S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 58. (Budapest, 1997)

The tarsonemid fauna of Hungary is only fragmentarily known. In the most comprehensive Hungarian compendium on heterostigmatic mites, Mahunka (1972) surveyed their life cycle and feeding pattern and gave a key. Nemestóthy and Mahunka (1981) described five new tarsonemid species and reported six species new for Hungarian fauna. Nemestóthy (1983) reported 33 tarsonemid mite species present in Hungary. Molnár (1987) reported two tarsonemid mite species in vineyards, while Dellei and Szendrey (1992) recorded 10 species of the genus Tarsonemus found on horticultural crops. MATERIAL AND METHODS The present study was carried out in parks, botanical gardens as well as in green areas of housing estates near and along the traffic routes and squares of all districts of Budapest between 1990 and 1996 (some other localities e. g. Croatia, were also occasionally examined). The plant samples (minimum 5 shoots, twigs or bark per plant or 25 leaves per plant) taken from 269 woody plant species were collected (from January to the end of November) and put into polythene bags. During plant examination with binocular microscope (upper and lower surfaces of the leaves, petiole, buds, bark, flowers, galls, etc.), all the mite individuals found in the plant samples were put into a clearing medium prepared for various arthropod groups. Tarsonemid mites were put into AGA solution or directly into lactic acid. After the clearing in lactic acid, they were embedded in Keifer's medium (Keifer 1952), following the Keifer's preparation method for eriophyoid mites. The Hoyer's medium, Hoyer's medium with sorbitol (Keifer 1976) and Heinze's polyvinylalcohol (PVA) medium (Schmutterer 1959) were used alternatively for mounting the specimens. The slide preparations were dried in a thermostat at 32° C and then sealed with nail varnish. Specimens were examined with a phase contrast microscope (Olympus BX 50). For mite determination, the keys of Kaliszewski (1993) and Lindquist (1978) were used. Nomenclature used in the mite morphology is derived from Lindquist (1986). RESULTS In the course of the study 269 species of woody ornamentals were investigated. Tarsonemids were found on 48 woody plant species and one monocotyledonous weed species. Overall the presence of 20 species of tarsonemids (two genera) was recorded: eight species of the genus Dendroptus and 12 of the genus Tarsonemus (both sensu Lindquist, 1986). Seven species of the Dendroptus (spp. 1 through 7 in tables) and three of Tarsonemus (spp. 1 through 3 in tables) were not identified with certainty; they may appear to be newly discovered. Four species are recorded for the first time for Hungarian fauna: Tarsonemus bachmaieri Cooreman, 1958; T. karli Mitrofanov et Sharonov, 1982; T. nodosus Schaarschmidt, 1959 and Dendroptus willmanni (Schaarschmidt, 1959); (see Table 1 for the exact host/locality data). In the course of the study some tarsonemid - microarthropod associations were observed: 52.7% of all tarsonemid species recorded occurred on plant individuals infested with gall mites (Acari: Eriophyoidea), 13.5% with spider mites (Acari: Tetranychidae) and 22.9% with scale insects (Homoptera: Coccoidea; for more data on Coccoidea see Ripka et al. 1996). No physical damage that could be associated with tarsonemid mites with certainty was observed on infested plant species.