O. Merkl szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 66. (Budapest, 2005)

The present study analyses and evaluates light-trap material and personal collectings by lamp in the Tohonya valley near Jósvafő village during the years 2000-2001. The aim of the survey was to analyse the composition of the nocturnal Macrolepidoptera fauna of the Tohonya valley and its surroundings. The number of trapped individuals was registered each month, and the quantitative ratios of the species inhabiting the area were also determined. Furthermore, the distribution of the captured species was analysed by habitat and food plant preference. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study area was the Tohonya valley and its surroundings, about one kilometre north from the village of Jósvafő in the northern Hungarian karst region. The valley was formed by the Tohonya creek at about 350-300 metres above sea level. The research station is situated on a gently sloping hillside of the Kis-Galya, opposite to the Tohonya ridge, lying between the Tohonya and Lófej valleys. A semi-automatic light trap was set up near to the station. Most of our material was collected with this light trap and by additional collections with lamp on the terrace of the building of the research station. The area is described in detail by VARGA et al. (1998). Thus, the light sources had an influence over a rather large territory with a wide spectrum of natural and semi-natural habitats. A Jermy-type light trap was used during the research. The catching structure of the trap was on a 2 metre tall pole topped by a circular roof about 1 metre in diameter. The light source used was a 125 W mercury vapour bulb under the roof. The insects that were attracted by the light fell into a metal funnel which had at its end a container with a vial filled with chloroform (RONKAY 1997, SOUTHWOOD & HENDERSON 2000). The trap was activated by a solar light switch and it worked during the whole night. When a great number of moths were captured, the operator of the trap let them dry on a sheet of paper for a few hours, because the fluid they secreted on dying tended to cause moulding. The captured moths were stored between layers of cotton wool in cardboard boxes until being processed. To get an overall picture of the Lepidoptera fauna of the area, the material collected with light trap was supplemented by personal collectings using a 250 W mercury-vapour lamp attracting the moths, and pure chloroform for killing them. Collection lasted for about 7 hours each night, from dusk to dawn, when flying dropped sharply. The moths collected each night were carefully sorted and identified. The species, the date of capture and the number of specimens of each species captured that night were recorded. The light trap was operated from March 1st to November 15th in 2000, and from March 3rd to November 4th in 2001. It was switched on for two days in the first week of February, but the early thaw did not last long, and it was not switched on again until March. Meteorological data (daily average temperature and rainfall) were recorded by the local station of the Hungarian Meteorological Service in Jósvafő. The faunistic similarity of the two years of trapping was calculated by the Jaccard index of similarity for the species composition and by the Bray-Curtis index of similarity for the abundance data (SOUTHWOOD & HENDERSON 2000). Diversity comparison was based on one-parametric diversity-index families (TÓTHMÉRÉSZ 2001 ).