Haris Attila: Hymenoptera Research in the Carpathian Basin - Natura Somogyiensis 29. (Kaposvár, 2016)

History of the Aculeata research in the Austrian part of Carpathian Basin from 1760 till present

Haris, A.: Hymenoptera Research in the Carpathian Basin

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Piatra Neamt) is co-author of Bogdan Tomozei. They identified and published the bees of subfamily Apinae in the collection of Museum of Natural Sciences Piatra Neamt (Tomozei and Apetrei 2006).

Attila Farkas was bom in Csíkszereda in 1981. In Csíki Hírlap, Attila published a paper on the harms caused by Vespidae in horticulture, titled:" Wasps: uninvited guest in the garden" (Farkas 2012). Attila is horticultural engineer, graduated at Kolozsvár in 2004. He works for Csíki Hírlap where he provides tips and advices in gardening. His interest in botany was inspired by his teacher in the 5th class of elementary school. Beyond his work, as an amateur naturalist, he deals with nature photography as well.

History of the Aculeata research in the Austrian part of Carpathian Basin from 1760 till present

Hereunder, we discuss the Aculeata research done mainly in Burgenland and in smaller part in Styria (Steiermark) and Niederösterreich (the Carpathian Basin terirtories only). Wien (Vienna) is also part of the Carpathian Basin (its entomological investigation was iniciated by Franz von Paula Schrank), however due to our limited possibilities we could not discuss either the Aculeata published and described from the city and from the surrounding area or the prelinnean Austrian literature deposited in the historical archives and libraries in Wien. Furthermore, it is impossible to decide whether the locus typicus of the high amount of old descriptions (loc. typ. indicated as Austria) were Wien or other territories of the Austrian part of the Habsburg empire.

Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus (4th October 1723 Wien - 29 April 1798 Wien) zoologist, Jesuit priest and professor. He entered to the Jesuits in 1740, after 4 years novitiate, recieved his title of Doctor Philosophiae. In Linz, Klangenfurt and finally in Graz, he taught mathematics. In Graz, Poda established the natural history museum and became director of the local observatory either. From 1760, he moved to Hungary where he spent 13 years till the dissolution of the Jesuits by Maria Theresia. After this time, he returned to Wien, where he worked as an independent professor and researcher till his death. For us, only his early period in Graz is interesting. In this time, he described the following species probably from the Carpathian Basin: Sphex hortensis Poda, 1761 (syn. of Ammophila sabulosa L.); Vespa minima Poda, 1761 (valid but dubious name) and Apis minima Poda 1761 (syn. of Bombus hypnorum L.) (Poda, 1761). Poda didn't provid the places of capture but from the title of his book: "Insecta musei Graecensis", we may assume, they were captured somewhere around Graz.

Franz von Paula Schrank (21st August 1747 Vambach - 22nd December 1835 München, botanist, entomologist, Jesuit friar, director of the royal botanical gardens in München). In Enumeration insectorum Austriae (Schrank, 1781), He recorded 22 species from the Carpathian Basin, nearly all from Wien except Mutilla europaea L. from the Ötscher mountains. These are his original spelling: Sphex austriaca, S. vespiformis, S. tricolor, S. hoops, S. cribaria, S. clypeata, Chrysis aurata, Apis violacea, A. rufa, A. plumipes, A. fulva, A. bicolor, A. lagopoda, A. atra, A. centuncularis, A. luctuosa, A. convexa, A. cetii, A. leucostoma, A. vespiformis, A. fulviventris and Mutilla europaea.

Seven of them are described by himself: namely Sphex austriaca Schrank, 1781;