Corresponding author: Zoltán Vas (
Academic editor: O. Moldovan
There are no known troglobiotic hymenopterans, although a few species regularly occur in caves, usually for an inactive phase of their life-cycles. During a recent faunistical survey of the invertebrate fauna of Bakony Mountains’ caves (Hungary) several
Vas Z, Kutasi C (2016) Hymenoptera from caves of Bakony Mountains, Hungary – an overlooked taxon in hypogean research. Subterranean Biology 19: 31–39. doi:
There are no known troglobiotic hymenopterans, although a relatively few species are known to regularly occur in caves, usually for executing an inactive phase of their life-cycle. From the hundreds of thousands described hymenopteran species only about 200–250 species have been reported to be associated with hypogean environments (see e.g.
In 2009 the Bakony Museum
Between 2009 and 2012 invertebrates were collected in five caves in the Bakony Mountains. The studied caves belong to the authority of the Balaton-felvidéki National Park, and they are partly open to the public (Fig.
Location on the studied caves in Hungary:
The Csodabogyós Cave (
The Lóczy Cave (
The Kőlik Cave (
The invertebrates were collected by 250 cm³ volume pitfall traps filled with ethilen-glicol in each cave. Traps were situated from the entrance of the caves till the last approachable parts; average number of traps was 15 per caves, and they were working for a year. Stinking cheese was used as bait material.
The collected
Below we list the species found in the caves of Bakony Mountains. Taxa are listed in alphabetical order. Distributional and biological and/or taxonomical remarks are given following the collecting data of each species. English translations of the names of rooms and branches within the caves are given in brackets. Distance of the collecting site from the cave entrance is abbreviated as DFE.
Hungary, Veszprém County, Balatonfüred, Lóczy Cave, Középső-kar [Middle-branch], DFE: 50 m, 29 April 2011–28 June 2011, leg. L.T. Katona & Cs. Kutasi, 1 ♀; same location, 25 September 2011–26 March 2012, leg. Zs. Csermák, L.T. Katona & Cs. Kutasi, 1 ♂; Hungary, Veszprém County, Szentgál, Kőlik Cave, Bagolyvár [Castle of the Owl], DFE: 16 m, 27 November 2011–24 March 2012, leg. Zs. Csermák & L.T. Katona, 1 ♀.
Little is known about the biology of this widespread but rare Palaearctic species. Based on rearing data from relatives might be a parasitoid of homopteran larvae (
Hungary, Veszprém County, Kapolcs, Pokol Hole, DFE: 4 m, 5 July 2012–13 November 2012, pitfall traps no. 1–3, leg. Cs. Kutasi, 1 ♀.
Widespread Palaearctic species, and an endoparasitoid of coleopteran hosts (
Hungary, Veszprém County, Balatonfüred, Lóczy Cave, Felső-terem [Upper-room], DFE: 38 m, 11 June 2011–25 September 2011, leg. Zs. Csermák, 1 ♀.
First record in the Hungarian fauna. This species has been described from Sweden (Horstmann, 1980), and besides Sweden it has only been reported from Finland (Jussila, 1989) so far. The presence of this species in Hungary suggests a much more widespread distribution within Europe than it was apparent before. Additionally, this species is first reported here in association with hypogean environment. No particular host of
Hungary, Veszprém County, Balatonederics, Csodabogyós Cave, Poroltó [Fire Extinguisher], DFE: 6 m, 17 December 2009–27 February 2010, leg. L.T. Katona, 3 ♀♀; same location, 27 February 2010–5 June 2010, leg. L.T. Katona, 1 ♀; same location, 5 June 2010–19 October 2010, leg. L.T. Katona & Zs. Csermák, 3 ♀♀; Hungary, Veszprém County, Szentgál, Kőlik Cave, Felső-terem [Upper-room], DFE: 3 m, 25 March 2011–29 July 2011, leg. L.T. Katona & A. Piri, 1 ♀; same cave, Cseppköves-terem [Dripstones Hall], DFE: 8 m, same date and collectors, 1 ♀; same cave, Nagy-terem [Great Hall], DFE: 9 m, same date and collectors, 1 ♀; same cave, Cseppköves-terem [Dripstones Hall], DFE: 8 m, 27 November 2011–24 March 2012, leg. Zs. Csermák & L.T. Katona, 1 ♀; same cave, Nagy-terem [Great Hall], DFE: 9 m, same date and collectors, 1 ♀.
Common and widespread species throughout the Western Palaearctic region (
Hungary, Veszprém County, Kapolcs, Pokol-Hole, DFE: 4 m, 5 July 2012–13 November 2012, pitfall traps no. 1–3., leg. Cs. Kutasi, 1 ♀.
A very rare species described and known only from the Carpathian Basin (
Hungary, Veszprém County, Pénzesgyőr, Tilos-erdei Cave, 1 December 2013, leg. S. Tóth, 1 ♀.
This specimen has already been reported, however misidentified as
Hungary, Veszprém County, Balatonederics, Csodabogyós Cave, Óriás-terem [Giant-hall], DFE: 38 m, 17 December 2009–27 February 2010, leg. L.T. Katona & Cs. Kutasi, 1 ♀; same cave, Függőkert [Hanging Garden], DFE: 60 m, same date and collectors, 1 ♀; same cave, 5-ös terem [5-room], DFE: 58, same date and collectors, 1 ♀; same cave, Bezengő [Sounding], DFE: 50 m, same date and collectors, 1 ♀; same cave, Szív-terem [Heart-hall], DFE: 35 m, 27 February 2010–5 June 2010, leg. L.T. Katona, 1 ♀; same cave, Meseország [Wonderland], DFE: 45 m, same date and collectors, 1 ♀; same cave, Feneketlen hasadék lejárata [Entrance of Bottomless Chasm], DFE: 30 m, 5 June 2010–19 October 2010, leg. L.T. Katona & Zs. Csermák, 1 ♀; same cave, Szív-terem [Heart-hall], DFE: 35 m, 22 July 2011–5 October 2011, leg. L.T. Katona & Cs. Kutasi, 4 ♀♀; same cave, Óriás-terem [Giant-hall], DFE: 38 m, same date and collectors, 1 ♀; same cave, Meseország [Wonderland], DFE: 45 m, same date and collectors, 1 ♀; Hungary, Veszprém County, Szentgál, Kőlik Cave, Felső-terem [Upper-room], DFE: 3 m, 25 March 2011–29 July 2011, leg. L.T. Katona & A. Piri, 1 ♀.
Since
Hungary, Veszprém County, Veszprém, Takó Cave, DFE: 8 m, 8 July 2009–18 November 2009, leg. Cs. Kutasi & L.T. Katona, 7 ♀♀; same location, 18 November 2009–5 December 2009, same collectors, 1 ♀.
Although no troglobiotic hymenopteran species are known, our results suggest that more species are associated with hypogean environment for a shorter or longer phase of their life-cycles than expected. The most probable explanation is that troglobiotic faunistical surveys rarely consider to collect and/or identify the hymenopteran specimens from caves as they are regarded as outsiders of the cave environments. Nevertheless, not only some very rare wasp species (such as
The authors are grateful to Tamás Lajos Katona, Zsolt Csermák, Attila Piri, Szilárd John, and Sándor Tóth for their help in the cave collecting work. We thank Ferdinánd Takács, Livia Takács-Szenc, and Attila Piri for additional data on the corresponding caves. We are grateful to Jenő Papp for identifying the