The marbled crayfish or Marmorkrebs, Procambarus fallax (Hagen, 1870) f. virginalis, a parthenogenetic freshwater crayfish belonging to the North American cambarids, was recorded in Hungary for the first time. Several specimens of this potentially invasive crayfish were caught at different locations in the thermal Lake Hévíz and its outflows in the western part of the country. Captured individuals covered a wide size range (5.5 to 50.5 mm carapace length) and one was carrying eggs and recently hatched offspring, which suggests that this organism has established a stable and self-sustaining population in the warm habitats of Lake Hévíz area. This finding is of great significance because these habitats belong to the catchment of the Danube River including Lake Balaton, and thus, a significant further spread of the marbled crayfish is likely to happen in Central Europe. Furthermore, the expansion of this crayfish already reached the Kis-Balaton, one of the landscape protection areas of the Balaton Uplands National Park, what could have currently yet unpredictable consequences for this unique wetland biotope.
The earliest record of this species is dated back to 2005. Intensive investigations, habitat mapping and ecological research of C. heros were started in 2008. Our researches were focused on the larval instars and also on the conservation of the habitats. Most of the discussed C. heros populations were strong with high abundance. In the present study, we publish the results of the records done in 2008 and 2009.
During the faunistical exploration of Kis-Balaton carried out between 2008 and 2010, 97 water and shore beetle species were recorded (1 Sphaeriusidae, 8 Haliplidae, 35 Dytiscidae, 2 Noteridae, 1 Gyrinidae, 1 Spercheidae, 3 Hydrochidae, 1 Helophoridae, 30 Hydrophilidae, 2 Dryopidae, 5 Hydraenidae, 3 Heteroceridae and 5 Scirtidae taxon). 27 species are reported for the first time from the Kis-Balaton. Important faunistic records are the new localities of Hydroporus scalesianus Stephens, 1828, H. umbrosus (Gyllenhal, 1808), Laccornis oblongus (Stephens, 1835), Ilybius guttiger (Gyllenhal, 1818), Cercyon bononiensis Chiesa, 1964, Dryops anglicanus Edwards, 1909 and Heterocerus obsoletus Curtis 1828.
Results of faunistic investigations on the moors along the Southern cost of the Lake Balaton is published. We have data on the water beetle fauna of Kis-Balaton and Nagyberek only. 64 species and subspecies of 7 families are recorded. Samples were taken at 6 places near Lake Balaton between 2003 and 2009. Most of the collected species are common throughout the country only Laccobius gracilis Motschulsky, 1855, is rare.
The Koppány stream is a lowland stream in Southwestern Hungary. The aquatic macroinvertebrata fauna of the Koppány stream is poorly known. During the collections 71 aquatic macroinvertebrate species were collected (5 Ephemeroptera, 6 Odonata, 16 Heteroptera, 40 Coleoptera and 4 Trichoptera) in 2010. Cyphon ruficeps Tournier, 1868 is recorded for the first time from Hungary.
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