Check list of the Hungarian Salticidae with biogeographical notes

An updated check list of the Hungarian jumping spider fauna is presented. 70, species are recorded from Hungary so far. Four species are new to the Hungarian fauna: Hasarius adansoni, Neon valentulus, Sitticus caricis, Synageles subcingulatus. With 12 original drawings

Futures studies serving the development of future orientation in Hungary

The paper presents a chronological overview and assessment of futures studies in Hungary. Futures in Hungary can be divided into two well discernible phases: the first one from the inception to the political turn characterized by a vertical and horizontal construction of the discipline, the second one characterized by its theoretical and methodological renewal and practical implementation. As an interdisciplinary study, Hungarian futures had been integrated into international futures studies in both phases. The paper, besides the overview of the theoretical and methodological results, also presents the current state of the education of futures studies. It is shed a light on the complex future images and the efforts of Hungarian futures studies in the service of practice. Finally, it considers the tasks that lie ahead of the futures studies in the coming years

The genus Orthezia Bosc (Hemiptera: Ortheziidae) in Turkey, with 2 new records

This study aimed to identify the ground ensign scale insects in 5 provinces (Ağrı, Bitlis, Hakkari, Iğdır, and Van) in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. In order to achieve this goal, Ortheziidae species were collected from natural and cultivated plants in the 5 provinces listed above between 2005 and 2008. A total of 3 species were found, among them 2 species ( Orthezia maroccana Kozár & Konczné Benedicty and Orthezia yashushii Kuwana) that are new records for the Turkish scale insect fauna

EVOLUTION OF SENSORY ANTENNAL STRUCTURES IN THE ENSIGN SCALE INSECTS (HEMIPTERA COCCOMORPHA ORTHEZIIDAE)

The Ortheziidae (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Coccomorpha) are considered one of the most ancient families of Coccoidea. In this study, the antennal structures of species belonging to the Ortheziidae are examined and combined with data from a previous phylogenetic study as well as habitat preference data. Illustrations of the antennal structures (with a focus on the distribution of setae and specialized sensilla) for the type species of all genera in the Ortheziidae are provided. The three main ortheziid lineages can be recognized by their sensilla: (i) the Ortheziinae all possess coeloconic sensilla; (ii) the Newsteadiinae, which only includes Newsteadia, is characterized by a different type of coeloconic sensilla, here named Newsteadia-type coeloconic sensilla, and (iii) a clade that includes the Mixortheziinii, Nipponortheziini and Ortheziolini, all possess only basiconic sensilla

The effect of forest stand characteristics on spider diversity and species composition in deciduous-coniferous mixed forests

We studied how forest stand characteristics influence spider assemblage richness and composition in a forested region of Hungary. Deciduous-coniferous mixed forests dominate in the O˝rse´g National Park. Thirty-five plots were established and sampled for spiders for three years in 70–110 year-old stands with a continuum of tree species composition. Detailed background information was acquired for stand structure, tree species composition, forest-floor-related variables and spatial position of the plots. The effect of variables was analyzed by nonparametric multiplicative regression on rarefied spider species richness and by redundancy analysis on species composition. The relative importance of variable groups was assessed by variation partitioning. Spider species richness was positively and strongly affected by tree species richness, and the species composition of the spider assemblage was influenced by the proportion of the most important tree species. This study established the importance of tree species composition, but variance partitioning analysis also showed that tree species identity and forest floor variables together explain much of the variation. These findings may guide management and conservation efforts to maintain regional diversity of the spider fauna

Consuming alternative prey does not influence the DNA detectability half-life of pest prey in spider gut contents

Background. Key natural enemy-pest interactions can be mapped in agricultural food webs by analysing predator gut content for the presence of a focal pest species. For this, PCR-based approaches are the most widely used methods providing the incidence of consumption of a focal pest in field sampled predators. To interpret such data the rate of prey DNA decay in the predators' gut, described by DNA detectability half-life (t(1/2)), is needed. DNA decay may depend on the presence of alternative prey in the gut of generalist predators, but this effect has not been investigated in one of the major predatory arthropod groups, spiders.Methods. In a laboratory feeding experiment, we determined t(1/2) of the key cereal pest virus vector leafhopper Psammotettix alienus in the digestive tracts of its natural enemy, the spider Tibellus oblongus. We followed the fate of prey DNA in spiders which received only the focal prey as food, or as an alternative prey treatment they also received a meal of fruit flies after leafhopper consumption. After these feeding treatments, spiders were starved for variable time intervals prior to testing for leafhopper DNA in order to establish t(1/2).Results. We created a PCR protocol that detects P. alienus DNA in its spider predator. The protocol was further calibrated to the digestion speed of the spider by establishing DNA decay rate. Detectability limit was reached at 14 days, where c. 10% of the animals tested positive. The calculated t(1/2) = 5 days value of P. alienus DNA did not differ statistically between the treatment groups which received only the leafhopper prey or which also received fruit fly. The PCR protocol was validated in a field with known P. alienus infestation. In this applicability trial, we showed that 12.5% of field collected spiders were positive for the leafhopper DNA. We conclude that in our model system the presence of alternative prey did not influence the t(1/2) estimate of a pest species, which makes laboratory protocols more straightforward for the calibration of future field data

Regional variations in agrobiont composition and agrobiont life history of spiders (Araneae) within Hungary

Agrobiont spider species are well adapted to arable systems, which have fairly uniform vegetation structure and pest assemblages over continent-wide areas. We wanted to study, whether agrobiont spider subassemblages and the life history of the most prominent agrobiont, Pardosa agrestis, show any regional variation within Hungary, where only modest climatic differences exist between the NW and SE parts of the country. We studied agrobiont species of spider assemblages in 27 alfalfa and 21 cereal fields with suction sampling and pitfalls. The similarity structure of these agrobiont sub-assemblages (Sørensen distance measure) was congruent with the geographic distance matrices (Eucledian distance), as tested by Mantel tests. However, if we considered sub-assemblages consisting of the non-agrobiont species, this congruency was always higher. Thus, agrobionts responded only moderately to geographical variation if we compare them to non-agrobiont species. We studied the generation numbers and the occurrence of the first adult individuals in P. agrestis; the most common agrobiont spider in Hungary. This comparison involved comparing fields along a NW – SE gradient during 6 sampling years in pairwise comparisons, where in each year a northern and a southern population was compared with a minimum distance of 126 km in between. In generation numbers there was no difference; we found two generations across Hungary. In contrast, the first occurrence of adult individuals was on average 15 days earlier in both generations in the more southern populations. Thus, it can be concluded that agrobionts show a fairly stable and relatively low magnitude response over country-sized geographical ranges

Arachnofaunistical studies in Csákányospuszta and surroundings (Tatabánya, Komárom-Esztergom county, Hungary)

Faunistical investigations of the 17th Biodiversity Days revealed the occurrence of 129 spider (Araneae) species in Csákányospuszta, northernmost part of Vértes Mountains, Hungary. Among the collected species there was 1 proteceted species (Atypus piceus (Sulzer, 1776)) and were several rare ones to the Hungarian fauna (Collinsia inerrans (O. P.-Cambridge, 1885), Entelecara flavipes (Blackwall, 1834), Metopobactrus prominulus (O. P.-Cambridge, 1872), Zora parallela Simon, 1878, Lasaeola prona (Menge, 1868), Tmarus stellio Simon, 1875)