Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)
92 Phylum Arthropoda to Southern Europe. Its occurrence in Hungary has not been confirmed since. SÁNDOR PONGRÁCZ (1940) described the occurrence of four species in the Kőszeg Hills: Ectobius lapponicus, E. sylvestris, Phyllodromica maculata and P. megerlei. The taxon has not been examined or systematically collected since in the region. BARNABÁS NAGY and GERGELY SZÖVÉNYI (1997) mention two species —E. sylvestris and P. megerlei —in the Őrség. The cockroach species native to the Carpathian Basin were revised by LUBOMIR VIDLICKA and GYÖRGY SZIRÁKI (1997). The publication includes all the known specimens and literary records for the West Hungarian border region. 'Order-group' Orthopteroidea (grasshoppers and crickets) Once treated as a single order, the Orthopteroidea have been split into two orders. 9 Despite a relatively high count of about 120 species in Hungary, hardly any communications on the 'Orthoptera fauna' of the West Hungarian border region have appeared. However, the first reliable record of a plague of locusts in Hungary dates from 1009. Many other plagues followed over the centuries and most were recorded in the early chronicles. Masses of detail about the West Hungarian border region appeared in studies by ANTAL RÉTHLY (1962 and 1970) and GYULA KADOCSA(1952). The plagues of locusts that devastated Europe were caused mainly by migrating populations of the migratory locusts (Locusta migratoria). 10 Major damage is also caused by the Moroccan locust (Dociostaurus maroccanus) and Italian locust (Calliptamus italicus). 11 Chroniclers of Sopron (such as GOTTLIEB BRUCKNER and JÁNOS CSÁNYI) usually recorded local devastation by locusts in their journals. The selections that follow are taken from ANTAL RÉTHLY (1962), with the original publisher of the source in parentheses at the end of each. Sopron, June 1683: 'In the middle of this month, there were in several places in Hungary so many locusts that they gnawed away not only the grass, but several fields of grain as well' (CSÁNYI). Sopron, August 5, 1684: 'Towards evening, several thousand thousands of locusts flew over the town from Hungary [the east], and a little later passed over Somfalva [Schattendorf] and Ágfalva [Agendorf] like an army. Many thousands of thousands and many thousand times more came than on the first occasion, but within an hour, they flew on' 9 Previously known as the Orthoptera ('straight-winged') order, the taxon has now been split into two orders: the Ensifera and the Caelifera or Orthoptera (see RÁcz, I. 1996. Polyneoptera. In PAPP, L. ed. Zootaxonómia (Zootaxonomy), 174-82. Budapest). These are treated in the same section for convenience's sake. The earlier taxon name, where used, is put between quotation marks. Some authors think that the Caelifera and Ensifera should more correctly be considered as suborders of the Orthoptera. See SZIRÁKI, GY. 1996. Ketté kell-e osztani az Orthoptera rendet? (Is a splitting of the insect order Orthoptera necesary?) Állattani Közlemények 81:161-3. 10 The migratory locust (Locusta migratoria) is native to the western half of the Palaearctic region. It has constant breeding or hatching sites around the Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Aral Sea and River Balhash, where it feeds on aquatic plants the marshes there (reeds, sedges and grasses). 11 SAJÓ, К. 1890. A marokkói sáska Magyarországon (The Moroccan locust in Hungary). Természettudományi Közlöny 22:225-56.
