Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)
124 Phylum A rthropoda lutaria, now S. flavilatera) in Szombathely. SÁNDOR PONGRÁCZ (1912 and 1914) gave several species from Kőszeg, Sopron and Szombathely—Nineta pallida, Chrysopa perla, Megalomus hirtus and Dendroleon pantherinus. The Kőszeg occurrence of the last was quoted from SÁNDOR PONGRÁCZ (1914) by JÓZSEF SZENT-IVÁNY (1938a). KÁLMÁN VAKARCS reported a flight at Felsószölnök by the ascalaphus fly Libelloides macaronius, although he referred to it as Ascalaphus hungaricus. Introducing the fauna of the Szentgotthárd-Muraszombat district, he went on to say, 'It is interesting to see the antlion, which cleverly obtains its food from an artificial conical pit' (VAKARCS 1939). Almost 30 years later, HENRIK STEINMANN (1963 and 1964) gave the West Hungarian border region occurrences for a few species. The first regular collections in the area were made by SÁNDOR ÚJHELYI, who collected Megaloptera along with dragonfhes and Syrphidae at Szakonyfalu in 1957. The first summary of the neuropteroid fauna of the West Hungarian border region was made by LEVENTE ÁBRAHÁM. He identified the neuropteroid material in the Savaria Museum in Szombathely and other specimens that he and colleagues had collected in the region. His paper (ÁBRAHÁM 1992) concerns 1080 specimens of 62 species from 31 localities. The fauna is enriched and made unusual by species associated with the prevalent conifers. Worth mentioning are Raphidiae ulrikae and Drepanopteryx algida, with Szalafő and Kőszeg as the second national occurrence localities respectively. A checklist of neuropteroid species in Hungary was compiled by GYÖRGY SZIRÁKI and associates (SZIRÁKI et al. 1992). Although only vicinities, not exact collection localities, were given for each species, it included all the species known in the West Hungarian border region. A species new to Hungary and the whole of Central Europe was found in the Hanság (Lébény, Csorna: Csíkos-éger) during collections in 1995-6. Chrysoperla renoni had been known hitherto only from France, Spain and the Danube Delta (SZIRÁKI 1998). Altogether 40 neuropteroid species have been recorded from the FertőHanság National Park, mainly as a result of a survey carried out in the last ten years. The vast majority (31) are more or less common over wide areas of the West Palaearctic, while the other nine species are valuable from conservation point of view. Chrysoperla renoni is worth mentioning again along with Dichochrysa inornata, as these species have proved new to the Hungarian fauna and their localities are at the northern edges of known lacewing distribution (SZIRÁKI 2002c). The neuropteroids of the Austrian side of the sub-Alpine region have been well explored. 42 So have those of adjacent areas of Slovenia. 43 42 GEPP, J. 1978. Die Raphidiopteren der Steiermark in faunistisch-ökologischer Betrachtung (Neuropteroidea, Insecta). Mittheilungen des naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins für Steiermark 108:241-50; idem 1981. Die Neuropteren Steiermark. Ibid. 111:193-203; HÖLZEL, H., H. ASPÖCK and U. ASPÖCK 1980. Catalogus Faunae Austriae XVIID. Neuropteriodea, 34 pp. 43 DEVETAK, D. 1984. Megaloptera, Raphidioptera and Planipennia in Slovenia (Yugoslavia). Faunistical contribution. Neuroptera International 3:55-72.
