Distribution

Carabus hungaricus is a beetle

Beetle

Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...

 species native to the Palearctic

Palearctic

The Palearctic or Palaearctic is one of the eight ecozones dividing the Earth's surface.Physically, the Palearctic is the largest ecozone...

. The European distribution of Carabus hungaricus is disjunctive – three major distribution areas can be distinguished: A) Ukrainian and Russian steppes, B) Bulgaria (small isolated area), and C) the Carpathian Basin. In its whole distribution area, the habitats where this species occurs are fragmented, and as a result often isolated. In Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, it is found in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, Moldova

Moldova

Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...

, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, central and southern Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

 and Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

. It is a typical steppe species, inhabits sandy grasslands and dolomitic grasslands. The majority of its populations inhabit calcareous sandy grasslands from the Deliblat (Serbia: Deliblatska Peščara

Deliblatska Pešcara

Deliblatska Peščara or Deliblato Sand is a large sand area situated in the Vojvodina province, Serbia. It is located in southern Banat...

) throughout the Banat

Banat

The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...

 (Serbia, Romania) and sandy areas in Hungary along the Danube River all the way to Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 (Austria) and South Moravia (Czech Republic). Numerous populations occur on acidic types of sand grasslands in the Nyírség area, near the city of Debrecen

Debrecen

Debrecen , is the second largest city in Hungary after Budapest. Debrecen is the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar county.- Name :...

 (Hungary). A classical collecting place for this beetle was in the dolomitic grasslands of Buda Mountains, near Budapest the capital city of Hungary.

Taxonomic status

The type locality “Hungaria” in Johan Christian Fabricius

Johan Christian Fabricius

Johan Christian Fabricius was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others...

’s description from 1792 refers most likely to the Buda Mountains, which was undoubtedly a place frequently visited by collectors and naturalists of that time. The type specimen is treasured in Kiel

Kiel

Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

. In the Pannonian Region, two taxa have been described besides the nominotypic subspecies: hungaricus viennensis Kraatz, 1877, living in the Vienna Basin (Austria) and in South Moravia (Czech Republic), and frivaldskyanus Breuning, 1933 occurring in the Banat Region (Romania, Serbia). Many authors (Freude 1976; Turin et al. 2003) question the subspecies rank of both forementioned taxa.

Nature conservation status

In the EU it is listed in the Habitats Directive and it is a characteristic species of the Pannonian biogeographic region. In its whole distribution area Carabus hungaricus is endangered, in some countries almost extinct or critically endangered (Austria, Müller-Motzfeld 2004; Moldova, Neculiseanu et al. 1999http://www.salvaeco.org/insecte/page/carabus_pachistus_hungaricus.php: critically endangered). The populations in Czech Republic and Slovakia are local (Turin et al. 2003). In Hungary Carabus hungaricus can be found in many places, but the habitat of this species is extremely fragmented. The further fragmentation of its habitat would cause a decrease in C. hungaricus population size. Carabus hungaricus is listed in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation

Red Data Book of the Russian Federation

Red Data Book of the Russian Federation , also known as Red Book or Russian Red Data Book is a state document established for documenting rare and endangered species of animals, plants and fungi, as well as some local subspecies that exist within the territory of the Russian Federation and its...

(Ivanenko 1999) and in the Ukrainian Red Book (Serbaka 1994).

External links

• Carabus hungaricus on Fauna Europaea

Literature

• BÉRCES, S., SZÉL, GY., KÖDÖBÖCZ, V., KUTASI, CS., SZABÓ, K., FÜLÖP, D., PÉNZES, ZS. & PEREGOVITS, L. 2007: A magyar futrinka. [Carabus hungaricus.] – In: FORRÓ, L. (ed.): A Kárpát-medence állatvilágának kialakulása. [The origin of the fauna of the Carpathian Basin.] Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum, Budapest, pp. 107–124.
• BÉRCES, S., SZÉL, GY. & KÖDÖBÖCZ V. 2007: A magyar futrinka (Carabus hungaricus) elterjedése és természetvédelmi helyzete. (The distribution and nature protection status of the species Carabus hungaricus.) – Természetvédelmi Közlemények 13: 411–420.
• BÉRCES, S., SZÉL, GY., KÖDÖBÖCZ, V. & KUTASI, Cs. 2008: The distribution, habitat types and nature conservation value of a Natura 2000 beetle, Carabus hungaricus Fabricius, 1792 in Hungary. – In: PENEV, L., ERWIN, T. & ASSMANN, T. (eds): Back to the roots and back to the future. Towards a New Synthesis between Taxonomic, Ecological and Biogeographical Apporaches in Carabidology. Proceedings of the XIII European Carabidologists Meeting, Blagoevgrad, August 20-24, 2007. Pensoft Series Faunistica No. 75. http://www.pensoft.net/notes/14117.stm
• BREUNING, S. 1933: Monographie der Gattung Carabus L. (IV. Teil). Bestimmungs-Tabellen der europäischen Coleopteren (Troppau) 106. Heft pp. 705-704.
• CSIKI, E. 1905-08: Magyarország bogárfaunája 1. kötet Adephaga 1. Caraboidea.[The beetle fauna of Hungary 1. volume Adephaga 1. Caraboidea.], Budapest.
• FRIVALDSKY, I. 1865: Jellemző adatok Magyarország faunájához. [Typical faunistic data for Hungary] A Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Évkönyvei 11 (4): 1-275, 13 pls.
• FRIVALDSKY, J. 1874: Magyarország téhelyröpűinek futonczféléi. [Hungarian ground beetels] (Carabidae) F. Eggenberger Magyar Akadémiai Könyvárusnál, Budapest.
• KASZAB, Z. & SZÉKESSY, V. 1953: Bátorliget bogár-faunája, Coleoptera. – In: Bátorliget élővilága [The beetle fauna of Bátorliget – In: The flora and fauna of Bátorliget] (Székessy, V. ed.). Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, pp. 194-285.
• KEMPELEN, R. 1868. III. Heves és külső Szolnok törvényesen egyesült vármegyék állattani leírása. – In: Heves- és Külső Szolnok törvényesen egyesült vármegyék leírása [Faunistic description of the counties Heves and Szolnok in: The description he counties Heves and Szolnok] (Albert, F. ed.): A Magyar Orvosok és Természetvizsgálók XIII. nagygyűlése [Congress of the Hungarian doctors and naturalists], Eger, pp. 175-226.http://vfek.vfmk.hu/00000083/albert33.htm
• KOY T. 1800: Alphabetisches Verzeichniss meiner Insecten-Sammlung. Gewidmet Seinen Entomologischen Freuden von Tobias Koy. Ofen, 64 pp.
• KUTASI, CS. 1998: Futóbogarak (Coleoptera, Carabidae) Litér környékéről. (Ground beetles (Coleptera: Carabidae) of the environment of Litér (West Hungary).– Folia Musei Historico-Naturalis Bakonyiensis 13 (1994): 73-87.
• KUTASI, CS. & SZÉL, GY. 2006: Ground beetle assemblages of dolomitic grasslands in Hungary. – Entomologica Fennica 17: 253-257.http://www.entomologicafennica.org/Volume17/abstracts17_253.htm
• KUTHY, D. 1896 [1897]: Coleoptera. – In: A Magyar Hungariae). [Fauna of the Hungarian Empire.] Társulat, Budapest, pp. 1-213.
• LIE, P. 1994: Neue Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Carabofauna des Rumänischen Banates fur das Jahr 1993 (Coleoptera, Carabidae). – Folia Entomologica Hungarica, Budapest, Rovartani Közlemények, LV. 225-232.
• LIE, P. 1995: Beiträge zur Kenntnis des Carabus hungaricus frivaldskyanus Breuning neuentdeckt im Banat, Rumanien (Coleoptera, Carbidae). -Folia Entomologica Hungarica, Budapest, Rovartani Közlemények, LVI. 85-88.
• MERKL, O. 1991: Reassessment of the beetle fauna of Bátorliget, NE Hungary (Coleoptera). – In: The Bátorliget Nature Reserves - after forty years, I. (Mahunka, S. ed.). Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, pp. 381-498.
• SZÉL, GY., BÉRCES, S., KUTASI, CS. & KÖDÖBÖCZ, V. 2006: A magyar futrinka (Carabus hungaricus Fabricius, 1792) hazai elterjedése és élőhelyei (Coleoptera: Carabidae). (Distribution and habitats of Carabus hungaricus Fabricius, 1792 in Hungary (Coleoptera: Carabidae.) – Praenorica. Folia historico-naturalia 9: 45–80.
• SZÉL GY., RETEZÁR I., BÉRCES S., FÜLÖP D. ÉS PÉNZES ZS. 2007: A magyarországi nagy testű futrinkák (Carabus-fajok). – In: FORRÓ, L. (ed.): A Kárpát-medence állatvilágának kialakulása. [The origin of the fauna of the Carpathian Basin.] Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum, Budapest, p. 87 p. 102
• TURIN, H., PENEV, L., CASALE A. (Eds). 2003: The Genus Carabus L. in Europe. A synthesis. Fauna Europaea Evertebrata No 2. http://www.pensoft.net/notes/7768.stm