Folia Historico-Naturalia Musei Matraensis - A Mátra Múzeum Természetrajzi Közleményei 15. (1990)
Ábrahám, L.–Papp, Z.: Preliminary on the larva of Myrmecaelurus zigan ASPÖCK, ASPÖCK et HÖLZEL, 1980 (Planipennia: Myrmelonidae)
Fol. Hist.-nat. Mus. Matr., 15: 37-42, 1990 Preliminary report on the larva of Myrmecaelurus zigan ASPÖCK, ASPÖCK etHÖLZEL, 1980 (Planipennia: Myrmeleonidae) ÁBRAHÁM Levente - PAPP Zoltán Somogy county Museum, Kaposvár Budapest ABSTRACT: Larvae Myrmecaelurus zigan has been unknown so far. The authors summarize the taxonomical and record datas of two Myrmecaelurus species occuring in Hungary. They present the drawing, description and differential signs of M. zigan larvae. It is concluded that M. zigan is growing for two years and it constructs its pit-fall trap to the stock of the grass, directly on sandy surface. INTRODUCTION Two species occur in the Myrmecaelurus genus, the Hungarian Myrmeleonidae fauna, as follows: Myrmecaelurus trigrammus PALLAS, 1781 and Myrmecaelurus zigan ASPÖCK, ASPÖCK and HOLZEL, 1980. The M. trigrammus is a holomediterranean faunistical element ASPÖCK et all, (1980). European spreading of this species can be observed mainly on mediterranean areas. Population in Hungary is considered the northest part of its distribution area. Spreading in Hungary is present on Fig. 1. From taxonomical point the European population belongs to the basic type. In Asia Minor and Central Asia wicb are the Eastern distribution areas - Myrmecaelurus trigrammus derbendicus HÖLZEL, (1972) subspecies occur. The M. zigan species were first described in 1846 by STEVEN in FISCHER v. WALDHEIM, as Myrmecaelurus punctulatus , but as this name proved to be homooym, the species was called M. zigan by ASPÖCK et all in 1980. It is a mongol-eremial faunistical element ASPÖCK et all (1980). Its hungarian population is the west limit of its distribution area. The distribution area is from the lowlands in East Europe until Mongolia. Its locality can be seen on Fig. 2. The larvae of M. trigrammus have been studied and well-know by great number of authors. BRAUER (1867) has given a brief description. REDTENBACHER (1883, 1884) described the larvae but there are some inexactness in his description. BIRO (1885) presented a discription in hungarian language. STEFFAN (1975) and WILLMAN (1977) have described the morphological characters of the larvae. GEPP and HÖLZEL (1989) summarize the data of ant-lion and their larvae occuring in Central Europe. According to these data it can be concluded that the closeness of apical tooth on the mandibula to the next tooth is typical for larvae of Myrmecaelurus genus and different from the other genus. A chitin bristle, too, can be between the teeth. The larvae macroscopically are similar to larvae of Cueta beieri HÖLZEL (1969) but this species does not occur in Hungary. The differential marks between the larvae are presented by WILLMANN (1977). Larvae of Myrmecaelurus zigan has been unknown so far. The experts collected Myrmecaelurus larvae (and-lion larvae) and breeded imagos to study and find the difference between the species. Experimental materials were collected in Bulgaria and Hungary as well as the Soviet Union and Hungary for M. trigrammus and M. zigan , respectively. Larvae were grown for two years. 37
