S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 48. (Budapest, 1987)

the short rainy season from November to December. An intermediate rainy season in August can only be observed in the higher regions of the central West Usambaras, whereas in most parts a pronounced dry season from June to November is experienced. Mean annual precipitation decreases from the south-west corner of the Usambaras to the north from about 2000 to 600 mm p.a. Due to its montainous character this area has great local differences in rainfall. The main monthly temperatures oscillate between 18 and 23" C with their maximum in March and their minimum in July. At altitudes above 2000 meters, frost can also occur during cold nights in July/August. The Usambara Mountains form parts of a chain of islands of forested basement block mountains stretching from near the Kenya-Tanzanian border to the south of Malawi and beyond. The geological base of them is Precambrian basement rock. It consists of metamorphic rocks mainly gneisses and granite. The soils formed by the weathering of these rocks belong primarily to the latosol type. According to MOREAU (1936) the Usambaras can be divided into three ecological zones, a lowland zone below 750 m, an intermediate zone up to 1350 m, and a highland zone above 1350 m a.s.l. The first one originally occurs at the eastern foothills of the East Usambara Mountains, but have largely been cleared for cultivation. The intermediate evergreen forest, the most luxuriant type of forests in East Africa, occurs in fully humid climates on the seaward slopes of the Usambara Mountains including the eastern slopes of the West Usambara Mountains. These forests posses numerous endemics and are extremely rich in species. The highland evergreen forests, i.e. montane rain forests, occur on the eastern slopes of the West Usambara Mountains above 1400-1500 m a.s.l. Moreover, there are dry evergreen forests which occur on rain-shadow sites where rainfall drops below 1000 mm and are well developed at rainfall even as low as 750 mm at higher altitudes where the fainfall is supplemented by mist. Most often night collectings were carried out at the Mazumbai University Field Station (managed by the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro), which served as a base for our field work, therefore, I wish to characterize the surrounding forest, the Mazumbai University Forest Reserve, one of the most well-preserved forest in the Usambaras. It lies within 1380-1900 m a.s.l. on the east-facing slope at the eastern end of the West Usambara Mountains. This is the lower part of the West Usambara range. At Mazumbai the vegetation varies from intermediate forest in the lower parts to montane rain forest higher up, emphasizing that the two types represent portions of a continuous gradient of variation. Lower down the intermediate forest grades into lowland forest and at higher elevations a change from montane rain forest to dry montane forest accompanies diminishing mean annual rainfall. We organized a short study and collecting trip to Kimboza Forest Reserve which is registered presently as a catchment reserve. This forest is situated on the eastern foothills of the Uluguru Mts. in SE Tanzania (37°48'E 7°00'

) and has a great scientific interest because of its geological built up and high community diversity. Researches are urgented by the rapidly increasing land use pressures, as is the case of the Usambaras. The reserve itself presently covers some 385 ha and goes from 500 m a.s.l. at the highest point to 180 m at the Ruvu river which crosses the reserve. It receives a high rainfall, average about 1700 mm p.a. with only 3 month getting less than 50 mm Our study was carried out in the end of the major rainy season (from November to April). The humidities remain high for much of the year, and It is this, together with the geological built up, that gives the Kimboza Forest Reserve's a distinctive character. The forest is entirely located on calcite and dolomite marbles, which rarely occurs on the surface in Tanzania. Tropical carstic landscape with large isolated blocks and pinnacles of marble are the characteristic features of this territory. The vegetation is virtually of lowland forest with closed canopy to 20 m, in places to 30 m, and with émergents up to 40 m. A distinct canopy layer at 10-15 m and a shrub layer from 2-5 m are present. The canopy is dominated by Leguminosae, Moraceae and Sapotaceae. Three animal groups - millipedes, butterflies and birds - have been well collected by previous researchers. Both flora and fauna show endemic elements, indicating the isolation of Kimboza. As it is virtually the only primary forest area left on the lower Ulugurus (below 1500 m) it has considerable biogeographic and ecological importance in understanding the evolution of the East African forest communities. In contrast to the ancient crystalline block mountains, there are geographically young formations in East Africa. The high volcanic mountains of equatorial East Africa are of exceptional biogeographical and ecological interest. That is why the leadership of the nroject decided a comparative study trip to one of those volcanic mountains, namely, to the Kilimanjaro. Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest summit of Africa (5895 m), is an extinct volcano. It consists of three one on the other layered volcanos in order of time of their eruption they are the Shira, the Mawenzi and the Kibo,