S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 34/2. (Budapest, 1981)

FOLIA ENTOMOLOGICA HUNGARICA ROVARTANI KÖZLEMÉNYEK XLII (XXXIV) 2 1981 p. 167-184 investigations on the Lepidoptera fauna of the Zemplén Mts. (NE Hungary). I. The valley of Kemence stream By L. RONKAY and CS. SZABÓKY (Received September 25, 1981) Abstract. - This paper contains the results of ten years of investigations including the data on 1208 species, four of which proved to be new to the fauna of Hungary (Argyresthla sorbiella Tr., Epinotia brunnichiana L., Crambus ericellus Hbn., Thera albonlgrata Gornik) and were published previously. The Zemplén Mts. constitute the most southern Hungarian part of the Eperjes-Tokaj chain of mountains; it is a characteristic volcanic highland. It is of medium height with bluff peaks, narrow valleys and many surface waters: springs, brooks, streams, etc. The mountains are based on vulcanian and derived tuffy rocks. In some places there are also limestone deposits. The fact, that the Eperjes-Tokaj chain of mountains is the organic continuation of the Carpathians is also reflected in its flora and fauna. The mountains, except the foothills are covered with dense forests, so the incursion of the Carpathian montaneous forest and moorish fauna is more typical then the faunal elements of the subalpine-alpine zone. In the region of the source of the Kemence stream lying south to the Hegyköz in the central massive is Rostalló, this was the centre of our collecting activity. This area consists of: three valleys (the Ördög-valley, the Vajda-valley and the Kemence-valley being the union of the former two), the bordering mountains and two plateaus (the Mlaka-field and Istvánkut). This area can be considered as the border of the Carpathian Cassovicum flora. The hillsides are woody, except where clear-felled and on the same places overgrown with bushes, and the rocky slopes. On the northern parts of the high plateaus and valleys beech is dominant, in higher altitudes and in the southern parts Carpino-Quercetum and Quercetum petreae-cerris associations are found. The clear-felled areas are overgrown with bushes of Vaccinium, Calluna and Pteridium, which is the consequence of very strong erosion and soil acidity. On the higher zones Nardetum, tallgrass mountain fields, birch galleries and old birch forests may be found. The border of the plateaus is in places very steep with slopes of grassland and rocky woodland, but no true rocky grasslands on silicate soil may be found, just in the northern chain of the mountains. In the valleys of streams depending on the width of the valley bog forests, turf meadows and alder galleries developed often mixed with lower parts of beech zone. The aim of this paper is to report faunistical data, but in a concluding paper of this series a comprehensive ecofaunistical-zoogeographlcal analysis is planned. The fauna list with data on 1208 species (four of them new to the Hungarian fauna) is the result of a ten-year collecting period. We have a survey of the pertinent literature, and examined the collections deposited in the Hungarian Natural History Museum and also those in private possession, in order to complete our faunal list also providing some unpublished data (some of them do not concern only the Zemplén Mts). The first part of the publication contains short description of the species of interest and a list of their collecting data, the second part is a complete list of the speciesjn a systematic order. lf>7