Szekessy Vilmos (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 59. (Budapest 1967)

Kovács, L.: Data to the knowledge of Hungarian Macrolepidoptera II. Comparative population studies on three arctiid species by the aid of light traps

Map 3. Distribution of Eucharia casta ESP. in Hungary rasita and Ch. maculosa. We had collected it also on shrubby, loose dolomite slopes, but on ruderal sites only where there are also undisturbed plant associations in the vicinity. In the area between the Danube and the Tisza the sites are, without exception, on loose sand, and here are also the most populous populations. To make it more striking, 10 light traps of the central range yielded only 122 specimens in 1960—1966, whereas the 4 traps operating on the loose, sandy districts of the Great Plain captured 349 exemplars during the same period. Most specimens (241) were caught by the light trap in Tompa, on the southern border. Phenological data. Although there appears regularly a second brood in Hungary, it consists of small individual numbers, hence the country represents a transitional area between those with one and two generations respectively. In the central range, the second generation is a rare occurrence (the ratio in specimen numbers of the second brood is 95:3), whereas the situation is more favourable on the Great Plain, where the second generation appears even in cold years (ratio 310:39). The ratio was the most favourable near Tokaj (15:9), but surveys were made here only in 1964. The specimens of the first generation begin their flight almost simultaneously on the Great Plain and in the eastern section of the Transdanubia (April 24, and 25, respectively), but it terminates about two weeks later on the Plains (24 June). The smaller second generation flies from the beginning of July. The acme of flight of the first brood is in the middle of May, the other culminates at the end of July. Taxonomical problems. The species in itself is also highly varying taxon, but it has only a single form, besides the nominate form, which is restricted to a given area in the country (cf. Plate, Figs. 16—18). The white basic colour is extremely varying. It is only rarely a pure white, being occasionally yellow or more frequently of a pinkish tint. There occur also vividly pink specimens. Another characteristic is the fumous brown hue of the hind wing,