Haris Attila: Hymenoptera Research in the Carpathian Basin - Natura Somogyiensis 29. (Kaposvár, 2016)
History of the Aculeata research in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Slovenia and int he former Yugoslavia from 1920
128 Natura Somogyiensis Alfred Taubert had died, I met his widow and his younger son living in their old family house. The collection was still intact and placed in its original place... I informed my professor and he reacted immediately expressing his intention to travel to Szabadka and check the collection personally..... His suggestion was that, if I return to Szabadka, and I willing to publish the collection, he would help to publish it. The task seemed to be enourmous but also magnificent, since there was no similar collection in town. I told everything to my college, Aleksandar Rafajlovic, who worked for the museum as volunteer either. With his help, we transferred the collection to the museum and started to publish it which took 5 years besides our work in the highschool" (Szöllősi 2006). Gyula Szöllősi and Aleksandar Rafajlovic published the Taubert collection in 2 papers (Rafajlovic and Szöllősi 1958, 1963). Aleksandar Rafajlovic (1915 Szolnok - 13th June 2007 Szabadka (Subotica)) Biology teacher of the high school in Szabadka (Subotica). President of the Subotica local organisation of the Serbian Biological Society. His father worked for the Hungarian railway therefore the family moved frequently from place to place. His mother was Hungarian. After the Trianon peace treaty, the family moved to the Serbo-Croatian- Slovenian Kingdom. Aleksandar graduated at the Highschool of Szabadka (Szabadka State Highschool for Boys) in 1933 and continued his studies at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the Belgrade University. He spent his full career at Szabadka Highschool as biology teacher and when was necessary, he also taught French language. Till 1980, he worked as voluntier for the Szabadka Museum. Besides the publication of the Taupert collection, he founded the ornithological collection of the museum as well. He had 2 daughters, all what we know about him is from a few lines from one of his daughter, Natalja Maglaic. He spent his last years in Dusán Petrovic street of Szabadka, and now, he rests in the Sétaerdei Orthodox Cemetery. Bogomir Milosevic wrote in his internet page titled: index bio-bibliographicus notorum hominum Nonveilleriana The Bio-bibliographic Index of Names - Entomologists in Croatia'. " biolog, a Institut za biologiju Sveucilicta Novi Sad" (however this information is not confirmed, probably incorrect). Aleksandar Rafajlovic wasn't specialised for Hymenoptera. Gyula Szöllősi was asked by professor Grozdanic to publish the Taupert collection. Gyula Szöllősi requested him to work in cooperation. The result of this cooperation is 2 papers. These papers are the first monograph on the Aculeata fauna of Serbian territories inside the former Yugoslavia (Rafajlovic: and Szöllösi 1958, 1963). Alfréd Taupert (sometimes his name is written Taubert, 1879 Oravicabánya (now Oravica) - 1945 Szabadka (now Subotica). Teacher of Szabadka highschool. After his primary and secondary schools in his hometown, Alfred Taubert studied in Budapest University and graduated as biology and geography teacher. During his university years, he met Sándor Mocsáry and Lajos Lóczy (geographist, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) who took him to his expedition to Dardanelles and to Thrace. After his graduation, Alfred Taupert started to teach at first in Dés, than in Petrozsény and from 1905 in Szabadka Highschool. In 1911, he was appointed the first curator of natural history collection of the Szabadka Museum which was freshly separated from the town library. During the WW2, he had to figth on the Russian battlefields. After his returning from the world war, Alfred Taupert was cruelly massacred by Yugoslav partisans in 1945. The Taubert collection contained approximately 25 000 Aculeata specimens of 789 species. They were originally stored in 29 boxes (sizes: 60x60, 60x70, 60x80 and 112x54 cm). The earliest date of his collection was 5th of July 1911 and the
