O. Merkl szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 66. (Budapest, 2005)

The checklist of Malachiidae (Coleoptera) of Hungary 97 CHECKLIST OF HUNGARIAN MALACHIIDAE Although Malachiidae is considered by some authors as a subfamily Malachiinae of the family Melyridae, CONSTANTIN (2004) in the Fauna Europaea and most of the other European authors treat it as a separate family, and this concept is followed here. KASZAB (1955/?) produced an identification key to the species of the Carpathian Basin (or more exactly, the "historical" Hungary). The names put in square brackets in his book mean that these species are found in the former Hungarian regions now belonging to Slovakia, the Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Croatia, but not in present-day Hungary. HORVATOVICH (1969) published a long list of localities of the "Malacodermata" of the Carpathian Basin, and his paper should be regarded as the last comprehensive account of the Hungarian Malachiidae. Five species mentioned in KASZAB (1955/?) and HORVATOVICH (1969) should be deleted from the Hungarian fauna. Specimens of Troglops cephalotes (OLIVIER, 1790), Ebaeus gibbus (DRAPIEZ, 1819) and Clanoptilus elegáns (OLIVIER, 1790) are available from Siófok, and a specimen of Ebaeus coerulescens ERICHSON, 1840 is from Zirc. However, these specimens are from the collection of FERENC LlCHTNECKERT, which was improperly curated after his death. He lived in Siófok, but had great many beetles from all over the world, including parts of the Carpathian Basin now belonging to the neighbouring countries, and many unlabeled specimens were later tagged with printed "Siófok Lichtneckert" or "Zirc Lichtneckert" labels. Therefore these data should be regarded unreliable until these species are found in other localities in Hungary. Troglops silo ERICHSON, 1840 was mentioned by KASZAB (1955/?) from Pécs, based on the highly unreliable record of KAUFMANN (1914), but no original specimen is available. Occurrence of this southern Mediterranean species in Hungary is quite unlikely. Ceratistes dilaticornis (GERMAR, 1824) was considered to occur in Hungary by CONSTANTIN (2004). However, KASZAB (1955«, b) mentioned in both publications that he had seen correctly identified specimens from Croatia only. The specimens from the Carpathians and Transylvania (now in Romania) proved to be Ceratistes cervulus REITTER, 1894. Clanoptilus durandi (PARDO-ALCAIDE, 1970) was recorded by PARDO-ALCAIDE (1970) from "Hongrie", but the locality (Herkulesbad, now Bâile Herculane) is in fact in the Banat region of Romania, and other geographical names ("Transsylvanie", "Hung, mér.") mentioned by him also refer to present-day Romania. Clanoptilus spinipennis (GERMAR, 1824) was mentioned by KASZAB (1955/?) without square brackets, but according to HORVATOVICH (1969) no specimens from present-day Hungary are exist; all localities of the specimens deposited in the Hungarian Natural History Museum are in Croatia.