TRIP REPORTS

VI.2013., Pilisborosjenő

I had no definite plans for that weekend, so just went for a walk outside with my girlfriend, Petra to a hill called Köves-bérc at Pilisborosjenő to take as many pictures of common species as possible. I was familiar with the loessy landscape on the way to the acidophilous oak forest because I have made this trip many times before walking my dog there. The weather was nice and we were just hanging around, carrying my camera and tripod from flower to flower. Then I started collecting a bit more intensively and the day took a complete 180 degree turn. Weary of being questioned by my beating tray, trees and shrubs finally began to reveal details. An ordinary trip turned out to be one of the most successful collecting trips of the year.

Farther away from the houses we came to a meadow bustling with insects.

Cidnopus pilosus (Leske, 1785).

Oxythyrea funesta (Poda, 1761).

Vadonia unipunctata (Fabricius, 1787).

Viper's Bugloss (Echium vulgare).

Opsilia coerulescens (Scopoli, 1763).

Agapanthia violacea (Fabricius, 1775).

I was searching around in the undergrowth for hours. Subjects to shoot were all around. There were plenty of beetles everywhere because of the abundant spring rains and the sultry weather which is often experienced right before storms.

Oberea erythrocephala (Schrank, 1776).

The nearby agricultural land extends up to the forest edge with blackthorn and elm stands.

Carinatodorcadion fulvum fulvum (Scopoli, 1763) crawling around.

Pedestredorcadion pedestre (Poda, 1761).

Incesting insects or having sex with someone of a different species. Carinatodorcadion aethiops (Scopoli, 1763) vs. Carinatodorcadion fulvum fulvum (Scopoli, 1763).

Drilus concolor Ahrens, 1812 .

Ptosima undecimmaculata (Herbst, 1784).

Click beetles with their antennae up in the air.  Neopristilophus insitivus (Germar, 1824), female.

Neopristilophus insitivus (Germar, 1824), male.

Rutpela maculata (Poda, 1761) – Spotted Longhorn, one of the most common longhorn beetles in forest edges.

Individuals of Stenurella septempunctata (Fabricius, 1792) and Dinoptera collaris (Linnaeus, 1758) were happy to mate and feed on flowers.

In spite of the little rain even more beetles were found in the forest. I wasted my precious collecting time photographing case-bearing leaf beatles.

Cryptocephalus sericeus sericeus (Linnaeus, 1758).

Cryptocephalus marginatus Fabricius, 1781.

Cryptocephalus bipunctatus (Linnaeus, 1758).

Beating an oak branch infested by Coraebus fasciatus (Villers, 1789) numerous longhorn species fell onto my beating tray.

Mesosa nebulosa (Fabricius, 1781) – White-clouded Longhorn Beetle and Leiopus nebulosus (Linnaeus, 1758) – Black-clouded Longhorn Beetle .

The rare and unexpected Deroplia genei (Aragona, 1830) was fallen also from an infested branch.  This species occurs sporadically in oak communities, particularly in warmer habitats such as the Balaton Uplands.

Aspen and manna ash have colonized the abandoned quarry.

The small poplar longhorn beetle Saperda populnea (Linnaeus, 1758) develops in aspen.

Tetrops starkii Chevrolat, 1859 - a new record for me, was collected by sweeping the canopy of manna ashes. This species is represented by only a few specimens in the Coleoptera Collection of HNHM.  A common and widespread congener in Hungary, Plum beetle Tetrops praeustus (Linnaeus, 1758) develops in the twigs of fruit trees.

Enedreytes sepicola (Fabricius, 1792)

Phaeochrotes cinctus (Paykull, 1800) 

Lasiorhynchites praeustus (Boheman, 1845)

In an extremely warm and rocky patch I encountered click beetles that I have never or rarely captured in Hungary. This was the place where I used to walk my dog, gathered mushroom and spent my spare time going on trips. I knew every inch of it but I could hardly believe my eyes.

Quasimus minutissimus (Germar, 1823). A specimen landed on my shoulder nearly ten years ago. I have been trying to find it ever since by using different methods such as sifting or thorough examination of sunny oak forests.

Cardiophorus nigerrimus Erichson, 1840. I caught it in Hungary twice at most, and only a few dozen specimens are kept in the Coleoptera Collection.

Cardiophorus anticus Erichson, 1840 is one of the rarest species of the subfamily Cardiophorinae, if not the rarest. I have never seen it in Hungary before.

There are four Cardiophorinae species in Hungary with a red or red and black prothorax. However, they can easily be distinguished by the colour pattern of their pronotum.

Cardiophorus vestigialis Erichson, 1840 occurs sporadically in our karst white oak low woods. It is not uncommon in the Buda Hills and the Pilis.

In a woodland area I had the pleasure of coming across both Prosternon species occurring in Hungary.

Prosternon chrysocomum (Germar, 1843) there are specimens covered with greyish and also with golden hair.

Probing the dry twigs of oaks with my long handled net yielded a great number of bustling longicorns.
Axinopalpis gracilis (Krynicki, 1832)

Chrysobothris affinis (Fabricius, 1794) is a common buprestid species in oak forests.

Anisorus quercus (Götz, 1783)

Cylindera germanica Linnaeus, 1758 

It looked like it was going to rain all day. Thunder growled from the capital and from the Pilis, alternately. Fortunately, I escaped drenching to skin, and set out on the 10-minute walk home exhausted but happy.

A part of the material collected. Sometimes it is hard to decide in the field what species are struggling in the net. It is recommended therefore to keep all suspicious specimens because species can be more routinely identified when viewed under a microscope. Prosternon chrysocomum (Germar, 1843) hidden in the mass of Prosternon tessellatum (Linnaeus, 1758) (see above) Completely black-coloured individuals of Cardiophorus nigerrimus Erichson, 1840 among plenty of reg-legged Cardiophorus erichsoni Buysson, 1901 (see below)

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