Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 67 (2), pp. 99–100, 2021

Title: In memoriam Prof. László Papp

Authors: László Peregovits1 and Zoltán Soltész2

Authors' addresses: 1Pars Ltd., H-2094 Nagykovácsi, Balta u. 11, Hungary; E-mail: perego.azh@gmail.com
2Lendület Ecosystem Services Research Group, Centre for Ecological Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-2163 Vácrátót, Alkotmány u. 2–4, Hungary; E-mail: soltesz@entomologia.hu

Abstract: On the 28th of March, 2021, we lost a remarkable friend and colleague. Prof. László Papp died at the age of 75, following a long and painful illness. He was born in 1946 in Aranyosgadány, a small village located in the southern part of Hungary. He graduated from the Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest as a research biologist, in 1970. A fruitful entomologist carrier had started in the Diptera collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum (HNHM). Except for 5 years, he had been an employee of the museum until retirement in 2010; nevertheless, the tight connection with the collection lasted until his death. His Master’s degree and later his PhD thesis discussed the ecology of flies developing in cattle manure. In 1988, he defended his DSc thesis and soon after, he was elected corresponding, and in 1998, ordinary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The outstanding working capacity of the self-made man and steady worker manifested in his quantitative ecological studies with sample sizes of up to 100,000 specimens and in his collection building work. The Diptera collection counted 330,000 specimens when he became a curator and reached a million by the time he retired. This increase was the result of carefully sorted specimens out of the several millions collected. He discovered more than 2,000 Diptera species not known previously in Hungary. These results were summarised in the Checklist of the Diptera of Hungary (2001). He promised his colleagues that once he retired, he would revise the challenging family of Agromyzidae of Hungary. This was his final significant contribution, which was completed in 2019, and which included the four volumes of the Agromyzidae (Diptera) of Hungary. This was co-authored by Miloš Černý and published on 1,880 pages with 6,300 figures. Collecting activities not restricted to Hungary, he undertook collecting trips to Afghanistan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, and South Africa, just to mention a few. He described five new families/sub-families, 97 new genera and 747 new species for science, authored 368 articles, book chapters and books, including three outstanding series, and co-editor and author of 13 volumes of the Catalogue of Palaearctic Diptera (1984–1993), a bold venture on 5,000 pages with 58 authors. Having to work with so many authors did not deter his interest for taking on more challenges. Together with Prof. Béla Darvas they launched the series of Contributions to a Manual of Palaearctic Diptera (1996–2000). Though it could not be fully completed, mostly because of a lack of specialists, the four published volumes on 3,000 pages by 84 authors became a milestone of old-world dipterology and a vital source for future generations of dipterists. His contribution to Hungarian higher education involved writing and editing zoology and zootaxonomy university textbooks. He was a lecturer and member of the PhD schools of several universities, supervising dozens of MSc and PhD students. He was the leader of the Ecological Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the HNHM. He was an active member of the Hungarian Entomological Society and founder of the Hungarian Parasitological Society and the Hungarian Association of Ecologists. Internationally, he was also a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society since 1991 and a committee member of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Together with Prof. Béla Darvas, they launched the series of International Congress of Dipterology and organised its inaugural event in Budapest in 1986. Prof. László Papp was the engine behind the renewal of the Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, between 1994-1996 as editor-in-chief, later as an active member of the Editorial Advisers. His distinguished career was acknowledged several times. He received the Arnold Ipolyi Award from the National Scientific Foundation (OTKA) for promoting science, the Award for Hungarian Ecology, the governmental Széchenyi Award for outstanding scientific achievements and the Golden Medal of Imre Frivaldszky from the Hungarian Entomological Society, to mention a few. His death has been a tremendous loss for his beloved family, friends and colleagues, as well as for the international community of dipterists. May he rest in peace.

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Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 67 (2), pp. 101–117, 2021

Title: New species of Apterobiroina L. Papp and Bentrovata Richards (Diptera, Sphaeroceridae) from Australia

Author: László Papp†

Author's address: H-2200 Monor, Németh Á. u. 3, Hungary and Hungarian Natural History Museum, H-1088 Budapest, Baross u. 13, Hungary

Abstract: Apterobiroina flavipes sp. n., A. truncata sp. n., Bentrovata flavithorax sp. n., B. minor sp. n., B. nigrithorax sp. n. are described from Australia and compared to their type species Apterobiroina australis L. Papp, 1979 as well as to Bentrovata regalis Richards, 1973. All these species are wingless, and only A. australis and A. flavipes have halteres. Keys are given for their identifications. With 53 original figures on seven tables.

Key words: Apterobiroina, Bentrovata, new species, wingless species, Australia, taxonomy.

DOI: 10.17109/AZH.67.2.101.2021

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Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 67 (2), pp. 119–160, 2021

Title: Why are there not more herbivorous insect species?

Authors: Tibor Jermy†1 and Árpád Szentesi2

Authors' addresses: 1Zoology Department, Plant Protection Institute, Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-1525 Budapest, POB 102, Hungary
2Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Loránd Eötvös University, H-1117 Budapest, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Hungary; E-mail: szentesi@caesar.elte.hu

Abstract: Insect species richness is estimated to exceed three million species, of which roughly half is herbivorous. Despite the vast number of species and varied life histories, the proportion of herbivorous species among plant-consuming organisms is lower than it could be due to constraints that impose limits to their diversification. These include ecological factors, such as vague interspecific competition; anatomical and physiological limits, such as neural limits and inability of handling a wide range of plant allelochemicals; phylogenetic constraints, like niche conservatism; and most importantly, a low level of concerted genetic variation necessary to a phyletic conversion. It is suggested that diversification ultimately depends on what we call the intrinsic trend of diversification of the insect genome. In support of the above, we survey the major types of host-specificity, the mechanisms and constraints of host specialization, possible pathways of speciation, and hypotheses concerning insect diversification.

Key words: evolution, genetic, host shift, host-plant, host range, intrinsic trend of diversification, phyletic relations, specialization, speciation, herbivorous insect.

DOI: 10.17109/AZH.67.2.119.2021

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Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 67 (2), pp. 161–175, 2021

Title: Comparison of wild bee communities of three semi-natural meadow habitats at Harghita–Covasna Region, Transylvania, Romania

Authors: Imre Demeter1, Adalbert Balog2, Zsolt Józan3 and Miklós Sárospataki4

Authors' addresses: 1Department of Zoology and Ecology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, H-2100 Gödöllő, Páter K. u. 1, Hungary; E-mail: demeter_imre@yahoo.com
2Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Technical and Human Science, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Sighisoara Str. 1C. Tirgu-Mures, Romania; E-mail: adalbert.balog@ms.sapientia.ro
3H-7453 Mernye, Rákóczi út 5, Hungary; E-mail: jozan.zsolt@citromail.hu
4Department of Zoology and Ecology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, H-2100 Gödöllő, Páter K. u. 1, Hungary; E-mail: Sarospataki.Miklos@uni-mate.hu

Abstract: In the temperate climate wild bees are the most important pollinator organisms. Pollination is essential for the communities of semi-natural habitats since this ecosystem service directly affects plant reproduction. The diversity of wild bees living in such areas is remarkably high, but they are susceptible to various anthropogenic influences. In our study, the composition and structure of wild bee communities were examined in Romania (Transylvania) at three semi-natural areas near Filia, Merești and Vârghiș. The surveyed areas were used as extensive meadows under relatively low but slightly different anthropogenic influence levels. We collected bees in these areas at several places (9 sampling points/area) by individual netting four times during the season. In the studied areas, 129 bee species were found, which makes up about 18% of the approximately 726 wild bee species registered in Romania. In addition to the high number of species, we also observed high diversity values. Our results showed that, even at our sampling site closest to the human settlements, the extensive use of the surveyed areas as meadows allows the development of diverse, species-rich bee communities.

Key words: bumble bee, wild bee communities, diversity, pollination, solitary bee, Transylvania, meadow.

DOI: 10.17109/AZH.67.2.161.2021

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Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 67 (2), pp. 177–197, 2021

Title: Mitochondrial DNA diversity of the Alpine newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris) in the Carpathian Basin: evidence for multiple cryptic lineages associated with Pleistocene refugia

Authors: Judit Vörös1, Zoltán Varga2, Iñigo Martínez-Solano3 and Krisztián Szabó4

Authors' addresses: 1Department of Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, H-1088 Budapest, Baross u. 13, Hungary; E-mail: voros.judit@nhmus.hu
2Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, H-4032 Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, Hungary; E-mail: varga.zoltan@science.unideb.hu
3Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, c/ José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain; E-mail: inigomsolano@gmail.com
4Department of Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine, H-1077 Budapest, Rottenbiller u. 50, Hungary; E-mail: kr.szabo@gmail.com

Abstract: The phylogeography and molecular taxonomy of the Alpine newt, Ichthyosaura alpestris, has been intensively studied in the past. However, previous studies did not include a comprehensive sampling from the Carpathian Basin, possibly a key region in the evolution of the species. We used a 1422 bp long fragment of the mitochondrial genome to infer the species’ evolutionary history in central-eastern Europe by assigning isolated Carpathian Basin populations from 6 regions to previously defined mtDNA lineages. We also revised the morphology-based intraspecific taxonomy of the species in the light of new genetic data. Alpine newt populations from the Carpathian Basin represented two different mitochondrial lineages. The Mátra, Bükk and Zemplén Mts populations can be assigned to the Western lineage of the nominotypical subspecies. Bakony and Őrség populations showed high haplotype diversity and formed a separate clade within the Western lineage, suggesting that the Carpathian Basin might have provided cryptic refugia for Alpine newt populations in their cold-continental forest-steppe landscapes during the younger Pleistocene. Newts from Apuseni Mts were related to the Eastern lineage but formed a distinct clade within this lineage. Considering the morphological and genetic differentiation of the Bakony and Őrség populations, consistent with a long independent evolutionary history, we propose these populations be referred to as Ichthyosaura alpestris bakonyiensis (Dely, 1964). We provide a redescription of this poorly known subspecies.

Key words: Caudata, Salamandridae, phylogeography, molecular taxonomy, genetic diversity, Pleistocene refugia, alpine newt, Ichthyosaura alpestris.

DOI: 10.17109/AZH.67.2.177.2021

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