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

Phylum Arthropoda 149 doptera.

65 A mass of more recent knowledge of the distribution and ecology of the Macrolepidoptera in Hungary made it possible for a zoogeographical evaluation to appear (VARGA 1964). This was based on the work of LAJOS KOVÁCS (1953 and 1956a), but ZOLTÁN VARGA also used published data on Western Hungary in the faunistic literature. Zoogeographical analysis of the macrolepidopteran fauna of Southern and Western Transdanubia and the Zala Hills was accomplished some time ago in considerable detail (UHERKOVICH 1978b).

66 The scale of this book will not allow a detailed treatment of the research findings in plant and forest protection or lepidopteran pests. However, there are some doctoral dissertations for the Sopron University of Forestry and Timber (now the University of Western Hungary) and an important research programme there that need to be considered. The entomologist GYÖRGY CSÓKA (1988) reported in his doctoral dissertation on his researches into needleeating macrolepidopterous species in Hungarian pine forests. Earlier, PÁL SZONTAGH (1961) had devoted his doctoral dissertation to research findings on the life of and damage done by the common lackey (Malacosoma neustriaca). FERENC VARGA (1975) wrote for his doctorate on the feeding-biology of Gipsy moths (Lymantria dispar) and the damage they do in Hungary. ANTAL KONDOR (1977) wrote about possible forecasting of attacks by the same species on Turkey oakwoods (Quercus cerris). Light traps have become a basic tool for researching the lepidopteran fauna of a particular vicinity. However, they do not simply serve faunistic purposes, for the material trapped can be assessed as a way of forecasting numbers and relative weights of moth and other insect pests in forestry, agriculture and horticulture. However, it has been found that in forecasting the swarming of species and their sudden proliferation, the light-trap catches can be influenced markedly by biotic and abiotic factors (NOWINSZKY and TÓTH 1992). Research continued in the West Hungarian border region for more than two decades on what abiotic factors play a decisive role in the success and reliability of trapping. The findings were published in several volumes in English as well as Hungarian (NOWINSZKY 1994a, 1994b, 1977, 2000, 2001 and 2003).

67 Although very large quantities of information on the macrolepidopteran fauna of the West Hungarian border region are already available, the research 65 SZENT-IVÁNY, J. 1938. A történelmi Magyarország nagylepke faunájának elemei (Elements of the macrolepidopteran fauna of historical Hungary). Folia entomologica hungarica 3:133-45; idem. 1943. Néhány szó a Kárpátmedence állatföldrajzi felosztásáról különös tekintettel a fényiloncák (Pyralididae) elterjedésére (Remarks on the zoogeographical division of the Carpathian Basin, especially the distribution of Pyralididae). A Magyar Biológiai Kutatóintézet Munkái 15:502-8 and 509-10. 66 AMBRUS, А. 1984. A Zalai-dombvidék nagylepkéinek ökofaunisztikai és állatföldrajzi elemzése (Ecofaunistic and Zoogeographical Analysis of the Lepidoptera Fauna of the Zala Hills). Ms, doctoral dissertation. Budapest: Eötvös Lóránd Tudományegyetem ТТК; idem. 1987. A Zalai-dombvidék nagylepkéinek ökofaunisztikai és állatföldrajzi elemzése (Ecofaunistic and zoogeographical analysis of the macrolepidopteran fauna of the Zala Hills). Praenorica Folia historico-naturalia 2:129-34. 67 Detailed bibliographies appear in the publications concerned.