Haris Attila: Hymenoptera Research in the Carpathian Basin - Natura Somogyiensis 29. (Kaposvár, 2016)
Early History of the Aculeata research in Hungary from the 16th till the 19th century (1560–1800)
Haris, A.: Hymenoptera Research in the Carpathian Basin 71 Endre Zilahi-Kiss (22nd January 1873 Debrecen - 12th January 1931 Szilágycseh, entomologist (mainly coleopterologist), doctor of medicine). Endre Zilahi grown up in a calvinist family and spent his childhood partly in Zilah where the family had a house. His father was a judge in Debrecen. The young Endre finished his schools in Debrecen and graduated at the Medical University of Budapest. He was gynecologist and started his career in Budapest later he worked in Hadad, Désakna, Bethlen and finally in Szilágycseh. He published two papers on the insect fauna of Szilágy county (Zilahi-Kiss 1904, 1906) and also on various parts of Transylvania (Zilahi-Kiss 1915) discussing numerous rare species. In his 2 papers titled "Neuere Daten zur Hymenopterenfauna von Ungarn. II." and "Über einige neue Arten und Varietäten heimischer Hymenopteren" Zilahi-Kiss described 10 new species and variations from Hungary (Zilahi-Kiss 1915, 1927). He published 2 papers on the life history of Eucera clypeata Erichson and bumble bees (Zilahi-Kiss 1909, 1918). Lajos Soós ( 6th February 1879 Magyargencs - 26th August 1972 Budapest, Hungarian National Museum, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Hungarian Entomological Society, malacologist). Lajos Soós graduated at the Budapest University of Sciences and started his career at the Central Statistical Office. Later, he was employed by the Hungarian Ornithological Centre (founded by Ottó Hermann). From 1903, he had been employed by the Hungarian National Museum and retired as director of the Zoological Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum. He described an interesting encounter between common wasps and ants (Lasius sp.). An underground wasp colony were attacked by Lasius sp., the high number of ants were preyed the multiple sized huge wasps in organized way of team-work (Soós 1901). Ferenc Pillich (2nd April 1876 Szombathely - 14th June 1948 Simontomya, chemist of Simontomya). Pillich did great contribution to knowledge of the Hungarian insects by his busy and exceptionally lucky collections mainly around his hometown, Simontomya. His family came from Szombathely. The young Ferenc after his middle school years in Bunzlau (Czech) graduated at Budapest University of Sciences and returned home to continue the family tradition. He started to build his entomological collection in 1901. The original idea was to publish a monograph on Tolna county. During the preparation, it became clear, the fauna and flora of the county is hardly known. This was the first inspiration to start learning and researching the nature history of Simontomya. In 1914, he published (as private edition) his main monograph, titled "Aus der Arthropodenwelt Simontomya's" (Pillich 1914). He listed 4487 Arthropod species including 23 Chrysididae species. The other Hymenoptera species are listed separately in Pillich 1918, 1934, 1935 and 1936. His collection was identified and checked by the specialists of Budapest and the leading experts of all group from Europe. Fourteen new Aculeata species were described from his collection, by Kieffer, Alikén, Bliithgen, Zilahi-Kiss, Stoeckhert, Priesner, Noskiewicz, Ebmer, Móczár and Linsenmaier (Pillich 1918). Now, the Pillich collection is one of the most significant part of the Hymenoptera collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum. Hundred and one years after that "Aus der Arthropodenwelt Simontomya's" was published, the Hungarian Biodiversity Research Society organized a biodiversity research camp in Simontomya. Their results were published with the title "Arthropods of Simontomya in memóriám Ferenc Pillich" (Kovács and Horváth 2015).
