O. Merkl szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 67. (Budapest, 2006)
(1996), who found E. lanesîris in the Sebesfoki-erdő (= forest) near Doboz and KOVÁCS (unpublished), who reported E. lanesîris from Bélmegyeri Fás-puszta and E. catax (caterpillar tent on Pyrus pyraster and one male specimen at light) from Vésztő-Mágor Fás-legelő. In April, 1999 the author observed several caterpillar tents of E. lanesîris and a few fully grown caterpillars of E. catax on Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) near Gyula-Gyulavári in the delta of the rivers Fehér-Körös and Fekete-Körös, close to the Romanian border. Some caterpillars were collected for rearing, which resulted in four imagos of E. catax in September 1999 and several imagos of E. lanesîris in February 2000. The caterpillars were fed with leaves of blackthorn only. They pupated on the surface of the ground between fallen leaves of Blackthorn or in the soil. In the following years, the author has carried out an investigation to find caterpillar tents of Eriogaster species at different locations around Gyula, and successfully found two other occurrences of E. lanesîris on the roadside between Gyula and Sarkad at the bridge on the river Fehér-Körös, and in Kőris-erdő (Kőris-forest) in 2000. In 2003 and 2004, several male specimens of E. lanestris were observed at light at a petrol station in Sarkad by ZSOLT PETROLY. In 2004 more E. lanestris caterpillar tents were found by the author at different locations near Gyula (Szennyvíztelep = Sewage Station) and Kötegyán, while ZSOLT PETROLY found the species in Méhkerék (caterpillars on Rosa canina agg.) (Figs 1-2). There was probably a mass gradation at the original location (Gyula-Gyulavári) for E. lanesîris in 2004, because a total of 167 caterpillar tents were counted on a 3 km long transect, which is an extremely high density of the caterpillars. They caused defoliation on several Blackthorn bushes. E. catax also occurred at the same location and it has not been found anywhere else during the whole investigation. Lamping was carried out to find imagos of E. catax in October 2004, but this proved unsuccessful. THE HABITAT The Körös Valley has a diverse mosaic landscape of arable fields with remaining patches of saline grasslands and large flood plain woodlands. The original forests were mostly oak-ash-elm hardwood and riverine gallery (willow) forests, but large areas are now afforested by hybrid poplar (Populus x ''euramericand 1 ) and Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia). North of the river Fekete-Körös the forested area is much smaller, and the forest type is mainly saline oak woodland with dispersed, relatively small patches. The edge of these flood plain forests have a
