Volume 17 – 2012
Terrestrial isopods in the diet of two amphibian species (Epidalea viridis and Pelobates syriacus) from Dobruja, Romania Severus-D. Covaciu-Marcov1, Sára Ferenţi1,2, Alfred-Ş. Cicort-Lucaciu1 & István Sas-Kovács1 1University of Oradea, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, Universităţii str. 1, Oradea 410087, Romania 2Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Biology and Geology, Department of Biology, Gheorghe Bilaşcu (Republicii) str. 44, Cluj-Napoca 400015, Romania article no.: ER17201201 Summary: Two amphibian species from Dobruja (Epidalea viridis and Pelobates syriacus) consumed five terrestrial isopod species (Trachelipus rathkii, Porcellionides pruinosus, Porcellio laevis, Armadillidium vulgare and Armadillidium versicolor), beside other invertebrates. The most frequent isopod species in frogs` food was A. vulgare. The isopods consumed by amphibians are either common species in Romania, or characteristic to the southern area of the country. Therefore, amphibians consumed the common isopods in the populated area. Even though the region from which the frogs were captured is uniform, between the feeding of the two amphibian species were some differences. P. syriacus constantly has fed on large preys, while E. viridis frequently consumed small sized preys too, such as ants. It seems that these difference, also determined the differences between the consumption of inorganic elements and vegetal remains between the two species. Probably, searching for certain prey types, E. viridis had a larger foraging territory, while P. syriacus, species that has not manifested any trophic selectivity, presents a smaller foraging territory, since that territory had a satisfactory quantitative trophic offer. Key words: invertebrates, amphibians’diet, foraging territory, isopods. e-mail: sever.covaciu@yahoo.com	[details, abstract]	[pdf]
Some data on the terrestrial isopod assemblages from Livada Forest, north-western Romania Sára Ferenţi1,2, Éva-H. Sas-Kovács1, Diana Cupsa2 & Raluca M. Ianc2 1Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Biology and Geology, Department of Biology, Gheorghe Bilaşcu (Republicii) str. 44, Cluj-Napoca 400015, Romania 2University of Oradea, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, Universităţii str. 1, Oradea 410087, Romania article no.: ER17201202 Summary: During 2008 we studied the terrestrial isopod assemblages from five forested habitats, situated in north-western Romania, near Livada locality, where we identified 10 species: Trichoniscus sp., Hyloniscus riparius, H. transsilvanicus, Porcellium collicola, P. conspersum, Protracheoniscus politus, Trachelipus difficilis, T. arcuatus, Porcellio scaber, Armadillidium vulgare. Among these, the most common was T. difficilis. Although, all habitats are located in the same forest, the composition of the terrestrial isopod assemblages is very different among them. The largest number of species and the highest diversity were recorded in habitats with high humidity. Probably, the presence of those wet areas allows the existence of some high altitude species in a plain area. In contrast, an extremely low number of species was present in drier and anthropogenic affected habitats. In these habitats, even the sex-ratio was more female-biased. The differences among isopod assemblages from different sectors of the forest can be used as an indicator for the regions with greater conservative value. This is important in the case of the forest from Livada, which belongs to the Tur River natural protected area. Key words: isopod assemblages, forested areas, wetlands, diversity, conservation, protected area. e-mail: ferenti_sara@yahoo.com	[details, abstract]	[pdf]
An annotated list of Pediciidae (Insecta, Diptera) from Romania with a revision of the literature data Levente-Péter Kolcsár1, Edina Török1 & Lujza Keresztes1* 1Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Biology and Geology, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Clinicilor Street 5-7, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. *formerly Lujza Ujvárosi article no.: ER17201203 Summary: Between 2007 and 2012 a number of 32 different Pediciidae species was collected from Romania. A number of 5 species are new records to the Romanian fauna, as Dicranota (Paradicranota) consimilis Mendl, 1987, D. (P.) mikiana Lackschewitz, 1940, D. (P.) pavida (Haliday, 1833), D. (P.) subflammatra Starý, 1998 and Tricyphona (Tricyphona) alticola Strobl, 1910. A short comment on general distribution of the species with a critical revision on the published is added. Original drawings on male hypopygium are also presented. Key words: Pediciidae, new records, Dicranota, Tricyphona, Romania. e-mail: kolcsar.peter@gmail.com, edinatorok7@gmail.com, keresztes2012@gmail.com	[details, abstract]	[pdf]
The genus Myrmica Latreille, 1804 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Romania: distribution of species and key for their identification Zsolt Czekes1, Alexander G. Radchenko2, Sándor Csősz3, Annamária Szász-Len1, Ioan Tăuşan1,4, Klára Benedek5 & Bálint Markó1 1Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Clinicilor 5-7, 400006 Cluj-Napoca, Romania 2Laboratory of Social and Myrmecophilous Insects, Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wilcza 64, 00-679 Warsaw, Poland 3MTA-ELTE-MTM Ecology Research Group, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary 4Natural History Museum, Cetăţii 1, 550166 Sibiu, Romania 5Department of Horticulture, Sapientia University, Sighişoarei 1C, 547367 Corunca, Mureş County, Romania article no.: ER17201204 Summary: Genus Myrmica is one of the largest ant genera in Romania with 18 species distributed across the entire country. In the frame of this study we present the distribution data of all Romanian Myrmica species: M. bergi, M. constricta, M. gallienii, M. hellenica, M. lobicornis, M. lonae, M. karavajevi, M. rubra, M. ruginodis, M. rugulosa, M. sabuleti, M. scabrinodis, M. schencki, M. slovaca, M. specioides, M. sulcinodis, M. vandeli, and a problematic species M. salina. A single species, M. turcica was deleted from the list of occurring species. Four species are reported for the first time in the Romanian fauna: M. bergi, M. constricta, M. gallienii and M. karavajevi, while the occurrence of several species is probable. These species are listed separately. In addition, a key to the worker caste of Myrmica (with the use of male characters for some species) is provided, including species with likely occurrence in Romania. Key words: ants, fauna, Myrmica bergi, Myrmica constricta, Myrmica gallienii, Myrmica karavajevi, new records. e-mail: czekes@gmail.com, agradchenko@hotmail.com, csosz@zoo.nhmus.hu, ionut_tausan2007@yahoo.com, benedekklara@ms.sapientia.ro, balintm@gmail.com	[details, abstract]	[pdf]