No abstract

In Hungary, twenty Canis aureus individuals were submitted to parasitological examinations in 2010-2012. Two Coccidia: Cystoisospora canis (15%) and Toxoplasma-type oocysts (5%), one Trematoda: Alaria alata (10%), six Cestoda: Mesocestoides lineatus (20%), Echinococcus granulosus (10%), Dipylidium caninum (5%), Taenia hydatigena (15%), Taenia pisiformis (20%), Taenia crassiceps (40%), and nine Nematoda: Angiostrongylus vasorum (10%), Crenosoma vulpis (30%), Capillaria aerophila (5%), Toxocara canis (20%), Toxascaris leonina (15%), Trichuris vulpis (10%), Ancylostoma caninum (45%), Uncinaria stenocephala (40%), Capillaria plica (45%) have been identified. Angiostronglyus vasorum has been reported from carnivores in Europe, Africa, South America and North America. The helminth A. vasorum or French heartworm is a metastrongylid nematode, widely distributed in Western Europe, that infects the pulmonary arterial tree of dogs, various species of foxes, wolves, Eurasian badgers, coyotes and stoats. To our knowledge, this is the first report of natural A. vasorum infection in golden jackal.

Urbanization is one of the most prevalent drivers of biodiversity loss, yet few taxonomic groups are remarkably successful at adapting to urban environments. We systematically surveyed the global literature on the effects of urbanization on species of family Corvidae (crows, choughs, jackdaws, jays, magpies, nutcrackers, ravens, rooks, treepies) to assess the occurrence of corvids in urban environments and the factors affecting their success. We found a total of 424 primary research articles, and the number of articles has increased exponentially since the 1970s. Most studies were carried out in cities of Europe and North America (45.5% and 31.4%, respectively) and were directed on a single species (75.2). We found that 30 corvid species (23% of 133 total) regularly occur in urban environments. The majority (72%) of the studies reported positive effects of urbanization on corvids, with 85% of studies detecting population increases and 64% of studies detecting higher breeding success with urbanization. Of the factors proposed to explain corvids’ success (availability of nesting sites and food sources, low predation and persecution), food availability coupled with diet shifts emerged as the most important factors promoting Corvidae to live in urban settings. The breeding of corvids in urban environments was further associated with earlier nesting, similar or larger clutches, lower hatching but higher fledging success, reduced home range size and limited territoriality, increased tolerance towards humans and increasing frequency of conflicts with humans. Despite geographic and taxonomic biases in our literature sample, our review indicates that corvids show both flexibility in resource use and behavioral plasticity that enable them to exploit novel resources for nesting and feeding. Corvids can thus be urban exploiters of the large-scale modifications of ecosystems caused by urbanization.

During a regular veterinary inspection of fishes from Lake Balaton, Hungary, echinostomatid metacercariae (Digenea), with collar spines characteristic of species of the genera Petasiger Dietz, 1909 and Paryphostomum Dietz, 1909, were found in the lateral line scales of a roach Rutilus rutilus (Linnaeus), an apparently unique site. In a subsequent examination of 586 fishes from 20 different species, similar infections were found in 11 species. The infection was virtually restricted to the lateral line scales, other scales being infected only incidentally. These encysted metacercariae had 27 collar spines, including eight larger angle spines and 19 smaller dorsal spines arranged in two rows. Two types of metacercarial cyst were found. One type had a cyst diameter of 138-171 µm × 105-120 µm and three central dorsal spines that were larger than the remainder and tended to resemble the angle spines. The second type of metacercarial cyst had a diameter of 128-157 µm × 105-115 µm and all 19 dorsal spines of the metacercaria were of a similar size. ITS sequences of the second type of metacercaria exhibited a 100% similarity to sequences of two adult Petasiger phalacrocoracis (Yamaguti, 1939) specimens collected from the gut of Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus) in Hungary and to P. phalacrocoracis deposited in the GenBank database. Sequences obtained from two metacercariae of the first type showed a 2.8-2.9 % difference from sequences of the second type of metacercaria and from those of adult specimens of P. phalacrocoracis from cormorants. Based on these results, the second type metacercaria is considered to be a larval stage of P. phalacrocoracis, but the identity of the first type is uncertain. The unusual location of these metacercariae in the lateral line scales is discussed in relation to their transmission.

Brigetio, along the Danube limes, was one of the four legionary bases of Pannonia and, thus, one of the most important settlements of the province. The last excavation season so far, conducted by the Eötvös Loránd University and the Klapka György Museum of Komárom, was in 2016. The finds from previous years have been published year by year from 2010. This paper presents a catalogue and evaluation of the finds of the last, 2016, excavation campaign.

While the legionary fortress of Brigetio is one of the key sites in the province of Roman Pannonia, its inner structure and buildings are almost unknown. Although the retentura of the legionary fortress is almost entirely covered by modern buildings, the praetentura can be researched using remote sensing methods. Over the past few years, systematic excavations took place in the praetentura, based on results of the geophysical surveys. A large building complex was identified as the bath of the legionary fortress, with an area of at least 4,000 m2. In the excavation seasons 2021 and 2022, about 1,200 m2 of the bath was unearthed. Several cold and hot rooms, pools, sewers, hypocaust systems and praefurnia were found, yielding abundant find material. In the present state of research, the chronological periods and building phases of the bath are mostly unknown. The only chronological data comes from the in situ stamped bricks of the Legio XI Claudia, dating the earliest period of the bath between AD 101 and 105, which was also the earliest period of the legionary camp. From the Late Roman Period, some tegulae with the names of Lupicinus tribunus and Frigeridus dux have been preserved, which indicate building activity in the last third of the 4th century AD.

In recent years, the Hooded crow (Corvus cornix) has become one of the most successful wild bird species in urban environments across Europe. Hooded crows can cause several problems in cities, including trash scattering, noise disturbance, and aggressive behavior toward humans or pets, and they can be potential vectors of pathogens. To find effective solutions, the public has to be involved in the decision-making process in urban planning management, managed by the city administration. In this study, we surveyed the attitude of people in Hungary towards crows and crow management by collecting information using an online questionnaire containing 65 questions published in 14 Facebook groups. We found that many people were familiar with corvid species and had personal experience with them. In most cases, these experiences were not negative, so the crows were not or only rarely perceived to cause problems to people, such as aggressive behavior, damage to cars or stealing something. Most respondents recognized that the presence of large numbers of hooded crows is a problem to be solved and acknowledged that they do not know how to resolve it. The majority of people expressed their interest in raising public awareness of crows but not in their management actions, which they believe should be implemented by experts. Most respondents preferred passive, harmless methods. More direct methods such as egg/chick removal from the nest, control by trapping, poisoned baits or firearms, or oral contraceptives were the least acceptable. These results express the difficulty in identifying a control method for managing hooded crow populations that is both acceptable to most people and effective at the same time. This study demonstrates the importance of involving public opinion in wildlife management and providing more information to citizens to reduce human-crow conflicts.

Since urbanization is a worldwide phenomenon, numerous species have gained the advantage of urban ecosystems. The Eurasian Collared Doves (Streptopelia decaocto) has become widespread all across Europe along with human-altered habitats. In general, population levels are stable but numbers have locally decreased in the past few decades. In parallel, a new wave of urbanization came forward, so Wood Pigeons (Columba palumbus) entered urban ecosystems alongside with other Columbidae species. In this paper, our primary goal was to find any connection between habitat availability factors such as coniferous tree density and the population dynamics of two urbanized species. A locally emerging corvid species, the Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix) was also taken into consideration in influencing tree-nesting doves and pigeons as a primary nest predator. During the research period, we aimed to express the differences in habitat structure of two urban ecotypes by nesting tree availability and structure and to prove the power of predator presence in sampling sites. Our results showed that residential areas have a higher proportion of coniferous trees, as well as the high preference of residential areas by Wood Pigeons and Eurasian Collared Doves.