Dr. Murai Éva szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 25. (Budapest, 1992)

Parasit, hung., 25:85-96,1992 © Hungarian Society of Parasitologists Flies (Diptera) visiting human faeces in mountain creek valleys in Hungary* László PAPP Zoological Department, Hungarian Natural History Museum, H-1088 Budapest, Baross u. 13, Hungary (Received 12 December, 1992) Abstract: In 1988-1990 trappings with human faeces were made in four localities of low mountain creek valleys in N and NE Hungary (250 to 400 m a.s.l.) which are affected by tourism to a different extent. The dipterous assemblages were found to be rich in species (9,191 specimens of 175 to 180 species in 29 samples). The impact of tourism is hardly detectable in the results of trapping: no or very few specimens of the true synanthropic species were caught. It was found that the impact of human activity is not much more far reaching in these forests than the place it affects directly, as judged from these dipterous assemblages. On the other hand, dipterous assemblages visiting human faeces in forests seem to be unsuitable for indicating unfavourable changes in the environment. The maintenance of the "hemisynanthropic" category does not seem reasonable. Key words: Diptera, synanthropic flies, forest flies, human impact, Hungary INTRODUCTION "Synanthropic flies" is an ill-defined term for denoting flies in the environment of humans which may spread infectious germs by their life-habits through the consumption of, egg-laying on and development in infected materials." * This work is supported by the Ministry of Environment and Water Management (No. 146/AK (177/88)) * * The term "synanthropic" is applied particularly to flies and certain rodents coexisting with man over an extended period (Povolny in Greenberg 1971)