Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)

Phylum Arthropoda 101 new to the Hungarian fauna (KOZÁR and MRS BENEDICTY KONCZ 2002). Previous occurrence records from the park area were confined to Sopron and Fertőd (KOSZTARAB 1955, 1956 and 1959; KOZÁR et al. 1977). Order Coleoptera (beetles) Beetles, after moths and butterflies, are the insects whose occurrence has been studied most thoroughly. But while a well-qualified taxonomist or one or two researchers can summarize the Macrolepidoptera or Microlepidoptera in the order, identifying the species in a beetle family calls for much greater specialization. There are therefore beetle families on which Hungary has no expert. These either contain a small number of species, or are extremely difficult to identify (such as Mordellidae, Staphylinidae and Nitidulidae). On the other hand, there are several researchers at work on some taxa (Carabidae, Cerambycidae and Chrysomelidae) and the amount of information available on them is in a different order of magnitude. The situation is similar with the beetle fauna of the West Hungarian border region. Examining the Hungarian entomological literature of the last two hundred years reveals hardly any writings on the beetles of the West Hungarian border region, for reasons not immediately apparent. Either the Western end of Hungary has escaped coleopterists' attention or the works concerned have been lost. The earliest notes are about damage done by cockchafers (Melolontha melolontha). They seem always to be mentioned by name in accounts at that time, perhaps because the occasional damage was conspicuous and serious. From the West Hungarian border region, there are notes about cockchafer damage from Sopron (RÉTHLY 1962). Sopron, 1659: 'It was fine warm weather on May 4 and 5 and beetles appeared in swarms (PAYR). Sopron, 1679: 'On some days in this year of '79, a great many beetles [cockchafers] appeared, but they were scattered by a strong wind, so that no one knew whither they vanished' (CSÁNYI). Sopron, April 1686: 'At the end of April this year, so many beetles [cockchafers] appeared in our vineyards that people imagined there had never been so many before. Not only were they on the vines that they like to frequent, but even on the good hillside vines, where they had never appeared before, i.e. on the vines of the Angerer, Schwabenberg, Eysner, Mörgeler and other slopes, and there was not a grape that they did not land upon and gnaw. The town ordered on the pain of a five thaler fine that the cockchafers should be collected, but they went about it too late. If they had begun picking them in time, they would have averted the damage. We will have to think further ahead in future about picking off the beetles' (CSÁNYI). Sopron, 1687: 'The cockchafers this year were also on the lower vines in great numbers' (CSÁNYI). Sopron, 1691: 'The weather began to grow warm again, the beetles appeared in swarms on our vines, and the council announced from house to house that the cockchafers must be gathered up on pain of a fine. With the help of the villagers, they gathered them in almost house by house' (CSÁNYI). Sopron, 1711: 'There was a good grain harvest and plenty of fodder, but very little wine because of the [unidentified] vine beetles' (BRUCKNER).