Boros István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 6. (Budapest 1955)

Kovács, L.: The Macrolepidoptera characteristic to our sandy district

On the unanimous information of old collectors, it had been artificially introduced here. It lives on the sand of Rákospalota, on the Pest side, as it had bred in the old graveyard mentioned above. It had been collected in Gödöllő, Csepel, Szigetszentmiklós, and Peszér too. I have found an enormous lot of sacks on a clearing of a common locust forest near Szigetszentmiklós, in 1933. This is also the insect of Festucetum sulcatae assotiations. 48. Epichnopteryx undulella Fisch.-Rös. Its collecting localities are Káposztásmegyer, Rákospalota, Pest, Csepel, Gyón, Peszér, — sandy places all. I do not know, however, the plant association in which it lives. 49. Chamaesphecia masariformis 0. It had been collected also on the Buda side (Budaörs, Buda, Budafok), yet most specimens originate from the sand of the Plains, (Csepel, Pécel, Pótharaszt, Kisnyir). Its larva had been collected annually in an old graveyard in Csepel, in the past. 50. Chamaesphecia leucopsiformis Esp. The most of its collecting localities are on the Plains (Pest, Csepel, Pótharaszt, Kiskunhalas, between the Danube and the Tisza ; and Kunszentmárton beyond the Tisza). It had been captured yet on the Gellérthegy in Buda, flown over maybe from the Pest side ; further in Nógrádszakái near the river Ipoly ; and in the vicinity of the Kisbalatn in the Transdanubium. I do not know the character of the two latter places. 51. Chamaesphecia muscaeformis View. I will yet list this moth among the sand-loving lepidoptera of our country as we have a specimen labelled Isaszeg, and another date of its occurrence in Szeged. For the time being, however, I consider both data as dubious, as its food plant, Armeria maritima (= vulgaris) occurs in the Mts. Bükk only, in Hungary. On this ground, I will not take it into consideration in my exposal below. * As testified by the data just recounted, there live in Hungary about 50 lepidoptera species which occur exclusively in, or at least prefer, the biotops of sandy areas. There are among them some whose connection with sand is known since long, and which fact is also commented on by the large summarizing systematical works. E. crypta, A. vestigialis, C. leineri, C. argentea, C. celsia, C. leucopsiformis are considered unanimously as psammophilous species. These are not linked to the sand by their food plant, since these plants may flourish on substrates of other kinds too ; nor by the climatical qualities of the area, as their attachment to the sand is manifest in localities of the most diverse climates. We may justly suppose that the factor connecting them with the sand is a specific combination of soil, microclimate, vegetation, and other qualities not to be found in other biotops or on other substrates. In consequence of this complete adaptation, the very existence of these species depends on living in sandy biotops. There is to be found yet another group among the species enumerated, whose connection with sand is mentioned by some authors merely locally ; possible concerning the appeasement of their demands for certain conditions of life. Such are : H. statilinus (imagos, according to Rühl, prefer to sit on sand), 5. nervosa, P. noctualis, S. sylvestraria (in Pomerania, according to U r b a h n, on sand, or also on sand), E. irregularis (on sand in England, sec. Warren). Of these species, only P. noctualis is linked in some extent by its food plant (Helychrisum arenarium) to the sand. These species may