S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 55. (Budapest, 1994)

Outside Europe several new species, raised from Lipara galls were described from Mongolia (Nartshuk 1977, Dhanokmen 1977, Zerova 1977) and from Japan (Maetô 1983). Besides the special resources in literature referred to here there are a series of works on taxonomy, with observational data concerning the life history of some species. The history of research on insects developing in Lipara galls started with Erdős (1952, 1955, \951a,b). He reared several Hymenoptera species from L. lucens and L. similis galls. A species in his material was later described by Szelényi (1958). Subsequent research was started at the Department of Zoology of the Hungarian Natural History Museum. The present work is a result of many years of taxonomic, faunistic and ecological investigations. Importance of Hymenoptera was treated by Vásárhelyi (1988) and Vásárhelyi et al. (1992). The term "parasitoid" is used according to Papp (1987). This subject forms an integral part of the research topic "The role of animal associations in succession of the reed ecosystems", supported by OTKA (Hungarian Research Fund). MATERIAL AND METHODS Localities and time of collection The material was collected at 26 Hungarian localities, found in five large phytogeographical regions of Hungary (Fig. 1), (Pócs 1981): Western Transdanubia (d-2), Southern Transdanubia (3-6), Transdanubian Mountains (7-14), Northern Mountains (15-18) and Great Plain (19-26). Approximately about the half of the localities are in the regions of the Lake Balaton, Lake Fertő (Neusiedler See), Lake Velence and from the Great Plain (Hortobágy, Kiskunság). These localities are of primary importance for environmental protection and reed management, with homogeneous and in a smaller part mixed stands. The other half of the localities are distributed all over the country, and the stands are floristically mostly mixed. At each locality the reed can grow on ground being from temporarily or permanently water covered, to swampy and permanently dry (Dely-Draskovits 1988, DelyDraskovits et al. 1993). The state (size and density of shoots, their health state) of the vegetation can also vary, often there are signs of degradation. According to aspects listed above, the reed vegetation, where the investigated material was collected from, is characterized as follows. Besides characterizing the localities and habitats, the exact date of collection is given here. The material was collected in the years of 1985-89 and 1992-93, always between the end of January and the beginning of May (excepting 6. Pellérd, December), because this is the optimal period for collecting galls. 1. Fertő-Hanság National Park, Fertőrákos The collecting area is a reedy area in the neighbourhood of the recreation resort. It is temporarily covered by water and grown over by reed. In every year it is regularly mown, but not all the bundles are transported before the spring swarming of the insects developing in the reed. Thus, year by year the insects could infect the future reed stand. In spite