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

72 10 PHYLUM ANNELIDA (ANNELIDS) SUBCLASS OLIGOCHAETA (OLIGOCHAETE WORMS) Order Tubificida (tubeworms) FRITZ GEYER and HANS MANN, in a vast monograph compiled from hydrological findings in the Hungarian part of Lake Fertő, mentioned a tubeworm (Tubifex sp.) and a water-worm (Nais sp.), without specifying them more closely (GEYER and MANN 1939). The enchytraeid fauna of the FertőHanság National Park was studied by KLÁRA DÓZSA-FARKAS (2002), who recorded 45 enchytraeid species of 12 genera between 1999 and 2002. One species, Marionina sexdiverticulata, proved new to science and seven species and one subspecies new to the Hungarian fauna: Fridericia aurita, F. christeri, F. isseli, F. nix, F. sylvatica, Enchytraeus luxoriosus, E. christenseni bisetosus and Marionina communis. Specimens found in Hungary caused the F. aurita to be re-described. Order Opisthopora ANDRÁS ZICSI began to study the earthworm fauna of Hungary in the 1950s and presented his findings in several communications. Relatively little attention had been paid to the West Hungarian border region before, although it is one of the wettest parts of the country and moisture among the determining factors behind the distribution of earthworms. The research managed to demonstrate the occurrence in the Őrség of 15 of the 60 earthworm species found in Hungary (ZICSI 1968 and 1991). CSABA CSUZDI (1995) made collections in the Őrség under the National History of the Őrség

1 research programme. He collected about 650 earthworm specimens of 22 species or subspecies, at 30 localities. The Őrség remains the only part of Hungary where four of the species are found: Dendrobaena cognettii, D. vejdovskyi, D. ganglbaueri and Eisenia spelaea. Seventeen earthworm species have been recorded from the Fertő-Hanság National Park (CSUZDI and ZICSI 2002), which represent 27 per cent of the Hungarian earthworm-species count. The Hanság harbours only 11 of these, all but two of them being peregrine forms. The high number of anthropochorous earthworms in the district is probably due to the almost ubiquitous acidic peat soils. The grazing near Várbalog, however, is home to a specific endemic earthworm, Allolobophora hrabei. One of the longest lumbricid species in Hungary, it sometimes exceeds 50 cm in length and plays an important ecological role. This highly restricted endemic species occurs only in Az Őrség Természeti Képe.