Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)

84 Phylum Arthropode* A checklist of 19 large branchiopod species in Hungary (Anostraca, Notostraca, Spinicaudata, Laevicaudata) was provided by LÁSZLÓ FORRÓ (2000). Three of these occur in Western Hungary: Branchipus schaefferi at Sopron, В. visnyai at Kőszeg and Leptestheria dahalacensis at Sopron. В. visnyai was originally described by GYÖRGY KERTÉSZ (1956) as a new form of B. stagnalis. Researchers into the Zooplankton of Hungarian watercourses in 19924 counted Cladocera and Copepoda species respectively in the Rába (12/6), Marcal (8/2) and Kerka (4/-) rivers of Western Hungary (GULYÁS et al. 1995). The crustacean fauna of the Őrség watercourses has hardly been examined, so that occasional collections in 2000 yielded several data. The 28 summer and autumn samples revealed 33 crustacean species (1 Anostraca, 16 Cladocera, 14 Copepoda and 2 Amphipoda), most common elsewhere in the country. However, the several rarities included Daphnia parvula, only the second Hungarian occurrence of Mixodiaptomus tatricus, and the relatively rare D. obtusa and Eudiaptomus zachariasi. The results suggest that the area's various waters contain a rich crustacean fauna that merits full and intensive research (FORRÓ 2002b). The profuse population of common river crayfish (Astacus astacus) in the River Zala was reported by GÉZA ENTZ JR (1909). JÓZSEF CSABA (1965b) noted large numbers of river crayfish in the streams of the Vendvidék (the Péterhegyi-patak, Nagy-Kerka, Középső-Kerka, Kis-Kerka and Merak). The distribution in Hungary was derived from records of the 1950s by MIKLÓS THURÁNSZKY and LÁSZLÓ FORRÓ (1987), who included data from Western Hungary. The occurrence of river crayfish in the Kerca, Kerka, Szentgyörgyvölgy Brook and Upper Zala was stated by TIBOR KOVÁCS and ANDRÁS AMBRUS (1999) in an article on the mayfly Eurylophella karelica. They also noted river crayfish in the Lapines near Szentgotthárd and in the Rába (KOVÁCS and AMBRUS 2001a). So did ZOLTÁN SALLAI and MIKLÓS PUKY (1998) at several localities in the Kerka and in the Szentgyörgyvölgy Brook, Zala (at Zalalövő) and Rába (at Szentgotthárd). The large, fast-growing signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) was introduced in the 1960s into Europe, including Austria, where its wandering habits soon spread it widely. The first examples in Hungary came from the Gyöngyös at Gyöngyösfalu in 2001. Later collections suggest it is quite common in the Gyöngyös between Kőszeg and Szombathely (ILLÉS 2002). SUBPHYLUM HEXAPODA (INSECTS) Class Parainsecta Order Collembola (springtails) the Zoosystematics Department of the Péter Pázmány University of Sciences in Research into the Collembola fauna of Budapest. No study of springtails in any the Kőszeg Hills was started by staff of part of the West Hungarian border