Janus Pannonius Múzeum Évkönyve 37 (1992) (Pécs, 1993)

Természettudományok - Uherkovich Ákos: Kvantitatív vizsgálatok a Gemenci Tájvédelmi Körzet nagylepke (Lepidoptera) faunáján

43 Quantitative examination on the larger moths (Lepidoptera) of Gemenc Landscape Protection Area, South Hungary. Ákos UHERKOVICH KOVÁCS (1953,1956) published only very few data from the South Transdanubia. The regular study of this part of Hungary has started only in the sixties. Lepidoptera fauna of several regions was examined and published. No data have been published till recent days about Lepidoptera fauna of the Gemenc Landscape Protection Area. In the year 1984 a light trap was erected in this area, belonging to Őcsény. The trap stood nearby the Gemenc hunting lodge, few meters away from the Danube. It was surrounded by grove forests of flood area composed by Populus, Salix, Quercus, Fraxinus and other species of trees. The dominant assotiation was Querco-Ulmetum with relative poor undergrowth. Almost every year is the flood area inundated. During this year the light trap captured 11979 specimens of 324 larger moth species. The number of species is relatively small. In afforested areas of South Transdanubia usually 4-500 species or sometimes more occur. The reason of this low number of species can be the frequent inundation, the situation of this area and the short period of collections. Gemenc Landscape Protection Area lays on the border of South Transdanubia and the Great Hungarian Plain. Its vegetion is of the Plain similarly to the other parts of Danube valley or the Eastern part of Drava Plain. Dominant species are given in the Table 2. Most frequent ones are polyphagous on low plants (e.g. Mythimna turca L., Spilarctia luteum Hufn. and lubricipeda L., Axylia putris L., Xestia c-nigrum L. etc.). These species are not characteristic of this area, they are common sepcies all over the country due to their big ecological suffering. Some species living on lichens are also frequent. One of them, Pelosia muscerda Hufn. is the absolute dominant species of this community (22.68 p. c). This species lives in all alder grow and in several other type of grow forests of South Transdanubia. Other frequent species of lichens are Lithosia quadra L. and Eilema (Systropha) sororcula Hufn. Several frequent species living on poplar and willow were pointed out from here also (e. g. Pheosia tremula L., Clostera pigra Hufn., Leucoma Salicis L., Lomaspilis marginata L. etc.), and some polyphagous leaf-eating species (Orthosia species, Porthesia similis Fuessl., Ptilophotra plumigera Den. et Schiff.). Characteristic species of fauna is Atethmia centrago Haw. living on ash (Fraxinus), Mesogona oxalina Hbn. was also frequent here, it is known only from three sites of South Transdanubia (UHERKOVICH 1976a, 1981a). As it lives on elm (Ulmus) species, it became rarer in the past decades because of the elm disease. The most important faunistical result was the discovery of Diachrysia nadeja Obth. This rarity was published first by VARGA (1981). This species is in recent spreading (UHERKOVICH 1984) similarly to other species, e. g. Herminia tenuialis Rbl., Eucarta amethystina Hbn., Polypogon gryphalis H.-Sch., Stegania car aria Hbn. D. nadeja Obth. can not be too rare on flood areas of Southern Danube valley as it was collected in Béda-Karapancsa Landscape Protecion Area and at Dunaszekcsó (Fig. 2). Other rare species of this area are Cosmia diffinis L., Lamprotes c-aureum Knoch, Diachrysia chryson Esp., Calpe thalictri Bkh., Eilicrinia cordiaria Hbn., Cerura erminea Esp. etc.