S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 61. (Budapest, 2000)

FOLIA ENTOMOLOGICA HUNGARICA ROVARTANI KÖZLEMÉNYEK LXI 2000 pp. 27-53 Checklist of the oribatid mites of Hungary (Acari: Oribatida) S. Mahunka and L. Mahunka-Papp Checklist of the oribatid mites of Hungary (Acari: Oribatida) — A total of 477 species and subspecies as well as 2 species inquirendae of oribatid mites hitherto recorded from Hungary whose voucher specimens deposited in the Collection of Arachnida of the Hungarian Natural History Museum is listed. The faunistic literature with locality data is also given. Key words: Acari, Oribatida, cheklist, Hungary. INTRODUCTION The last year of the 20th century, the round 2000 somehow suggests a summing up, a kind of summary. Such summaries in science are more than timely, since the further steps, a desire for a well-based process - from to time - demand a survey, perhaps an evaluation of the so far gained results. In the science of faunistics and taxonomy this task is realized in the compilation and publication of checklists and catalogues of each and every group of living beings. Besides the interests of various scientific spheres (zoogeography, fauna genetics, ecology, ethology, etc.) based on these, the other modern tasks also demand this kind of work, which we generally call the preservation of biodiversity, to put it in a simplified form: nature conservation proper. This might mean a kind of foundation, the listing of a basic fauna, or the functioning of biomonitoring systems whose goal is to track down the changes in the state of an area or a living-space, which cannot be followed without the use of well-identified animal species compiled in a list. Such summaries, besides these, might render help in solving problems of environmental protection, of agri- and sylviculture, or even in public health. Especially important is the precise knowledge of the biota of the three vast livingspaces (air, water and soil), and from the view-point of the animal kingdom, the 4th living-space of the plant kingdom, the vegetation. It is for certain, that from among the three the micro-, the meso- and the macrofauna decisively determine and influence the soil structure particularly from biological point of view. Among the members of these faunae, the role of soil mites, within them that of Oribatida, belonging to the mesofauna is of paramount significance, so the knowledge of their quantity, variability and life functions in the soil is indispensable. One of their