Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)
170 Phylum Vertebrata partment at the Savaria Museum was collected in Velem, according to the inventory (No. Ac6, now No. 2002. 60.1) (DANKOVICS and VIG in press). Several longer and shorter publications mention the occurrence of the Hungarian meadow viper (V. ursinii rakosiensis) in the Hanság and Fertő (ANON. 1911; BOROS 1957; DELY 1978; DELY and JANISCH 1959; DELY and STOHL 1984; ENTZ 1911; FEJÉRVÁRYNÉ-LÁNGH 1934; GUBÁNYI et al. 2002c; MARIÁN 1959; MÉHELY 1893a, 1893b, 1894a, 1894b and 1912; PÉNZES 1960 and 1963; SEY 1964; SZABÓ 1961b). The subspecies was thought to be extinct in the Hanság due to intensive human activity in the 1950s, but a thorough search led to the rediscovery of a single isolated population in 1979 (JANISCH 1979). Since then, this strictly protected species has only been found in the environs of Lébény (FÜLÖP 1992). Recent distribution records, however, are not generally published for nature-conservation reasons. The Hanság population is one of the last and most important relicts of this endangered subspecies endemic to the Carpathian Basin (KORSÓS 1991; KORSÓS and FÜLÖP 1994) and under appropriate nature-conservation management. Hungarian meadow viper (Vipera ursinii rakosiensis) also occurred in the Vienna Basin, i.e. on the Austrian side of Fertő (EIBL 1947). In the 1990s, searches were made for the species in the Seewinkel (Fertőzug) district, east of Fertő, by KAMMEL WERNER. TWO potential sites were found, near Moosbrunn and Pischelsdorf, but no signs of its presence could be discerned. The author all but excludes the possibility that the species could still occur in Burgenland (WERNER 1992a and 1992b). LAJOS MÉHELY devoted several articles to 'brown' frogs (Rana spp.) in Hungary. The distribution records he accumulated include several occurrences at Fertő (MÉHELY 1890a, 1890b, 1891 and 1892). Population-biology examinations in the last decade have revealed that the edible frog (Rana esculenta) is not a distinct species, but a hybrid of the pool frog (R. lessonae) and lake frog (R. ridibunda). The hybridization, hybrid formations and distribution of the two species in Fertő and the Seewinkel have been studied so far by HEINZ G. TUNNER (TUNNER 1974, 1978, 1980 and 1992; TUNNER and DOBROWSKY 1976; TUNNER and KÁRPÁTI 1997; TUNNER and HEPPICH-TUNNER 1989 and 1992). Genetic, taxonomic and ecological studies have led to taxonomic revision of many species and taxa. The most important revision among amphibians found in Hungary concerns Triturus cristatus, which was split into the four species T. cristatus, T. carnifex, T. dobrogicus and T. karelinii. 24 These days, T. carnifex is further split into two subspecies (Г. cristatus carnifex and T. cristatus macedonicus). 25 Several of the newly established taxa occur in Hungary, so that intensive research has begun to correct distribution records on them. ANDRÁS TARTALLY and associates have 24 BUCCI-INNOCENTI, S., M. RAGGHIANTI and G. MANCHINO 1983. Investigations of karyology and hybrids in Triturus boscai and Т. vittatus, with a reinterpretation of the species group within Triturus (Caudata: Salamandridae). Copeia 1983:662-7. 25 ARNTZEN, J.W., and G.P. WALLIS 1999. Geographic variation and taxonomy of crested newt (Triturus crictatus superspecies): morphological and mitochondrial DNA data. Contributions to Zoology 68:181-203.
