Zsolt Pénzes

• University of Szeged

Previous phylogenetic studies of the tribe Synergini were focused on Palaearctic material, in which the genus Synergus was recovered as monophyletic, despite evidence of non-monophyly when global sampling is considered. A global molecular phylogeny of Synergini, including sequenced material from Nearctic and Neotropical realms, is presented herein...

Cynipid inquilines (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) are highly specialized endophytophagous microhymenopterans that develop inside galls induced mainly by other cynipids on different host plants (principally Fagaceae, Rosa spp. and Rubus spp.). Unlike the rest of Cynipidae, most inquilines cannot form galls de novo, although they can form their own larval...

The main goal of our study was to analyse the differences between Carabus hungaricus populations in different regions in the Carpathian basin, and to clear the taxonomic rank of the three subspecies living in the area. We performed analyses of mitochondrial genes (COI) to analyse regional isolation besides taxonomic questions. Extensive sampling wa...

Cynipid gallwasps comprise 1364 species worldwide, predominantly in temperate regions of the Holarctic. The vast majority of recorded species are from the Nearctic and the Western Palaearctic, both of which are long-standing centers of research on the taxonomy and biology of this group. In contrast, the Eastern Palaearctic and the Oriental Region f...

Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) is a powerful and widely used approach in inference of population history. However, the computational effort required to discriminate among alternative historical scenarios often limits the set that is compared to those considered more likely a priori. While often justifiable, this approach will fail to consid...

Our knowledge about gall wasps associated with the diverse East Asian oaks, Castanopsis and Cyclobalanopsis, is limited due to the lack of extensive feld studies. Here, we describe twelve new oak gall wasp species, Dryocosmus cannoni Schwéger &Tang, D. caputgrusi Tang &Schwéger, D. crinitus Schwéger &Tang, D. harrisonae Melika &Tang, D. hearni Meli...

Male ornaments, such as plumage coloration, frequently serve as signals. The signalling function of similar ornaments in females has, however, received much less attention despite the fact that conspicuousness of their ornaments is often comparable to those of males. In this study we tested the signalling function of a plumage trait present in both...

Fifteen new species of cynipid inquilines, Saphonecrus chinensis Tang & Schweger, S. gilvus Melika & Schweger, S. globosus Schweger & Tang, S. leleyi Melika & Schweger, S. lithocarpii Schweger & Melika, S. longinuxi Schweger & Melika, S. morii Schweger & Tang, S. nantoui Tang, Schweger & Melika, S. nichollsi Schweger & Melika, S. pachylomai-Schwege...

Eight new species of cynipid inquilines, Synergus abei Melika & Schwéger, S. belizinellus Schwéger & Melika, S. changtitangi Melika & Schwéger, S. formosanus Schwéger & Melika, S. ishikarii Melika & Schwéger, S. kawakamii Tang & Melika, S. khazani Melika & Schwéger and S. symbioticus Schwéger & Melika, from the Eastern Palaearctic are described. De...

The cynipid inquilines genus Saphonecrus is known to be a polyphyletic group with distinct lineages. One lineage is associated with Synophrus in the Western Palaearctic on section Cerris oaks. Another involves the type species of Saphonecrus, S. connatus, and represents a distinct and probably early-diverging lineage with a Palaearctic distribution...

Ongoing research in east and south east Asia has revealed many undescribed species of the inquiline cynipid genus Saphonecrus, suggesting that the phylogenetic relationships within this group are even more complicated than previously thought. Results of the Bayesian reconstruction of the Synergus complex of species are presented based on analysis o...

The chestnut gallwasp, Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu (DK) (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae) is considered to be the most important pest of chestnut (Castanea spp.) worldwide. Originating from China, this pest was accidentally introduced to Japan in 1941, colonized Korea in 1958 and the USA in 1974. In 2002 it was detected in Europe (Piedmont, Italy). Sinc...

The chestnut gall wasp, Dryocosmus kuriphilus (DK) (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) is considered to be the most important pest of chestnut (Castanea) worldwide. Originating from China, this pest was accidentally introduced to Japan in 1941, colonized Korea in 1958 and the USA in 1974. In 2002 it was detected for the first time in Europe (in Piedmont, Ital...

A new figitid species, Alloxysta chinensis Fülöp & Mikó sp nova, based on females, is described from China and South Korea. The functional morphology and the phylogenetic implication of some anatomical structures frequently used in Charipinae and the validity of the genus Carvercharips is discussed. This manuscript is the first of its kind linking...

Hymenoptera, the insect order that includes sawflies, bees, wasps, and ants, exhibits an incredible diversity of phenotypes, with over 145,000 species described in a corpus of textual knowledge since Carolus Linnaeus. In the absence of specialized training, often spanning decades, however, these articles can be challenging to decipher. Much of the...

The specific JHR BHL article list, list of terms present in the mx database, and R-scripts used in analysis are supplied in this combined file. These files, and all resulting trees, are additionally archived in the Dryad data repository (doi:10.5061/dryad.3g57k). (ZIP)

The most recent version of mx code, including the Proofer tool, is available through SourceForge (http://purl.oclc.org/NET/mx-database). The specific version of mx used during analysis is archived on SourceForge and in this combined file. (ZIP)

Two new species of cynipid inquilines, Ufo nipponicus from Japan and U. cerroneuroteri from Taiwan are described. Descriptions, diagnoses, biology, and host associations for the new species and a key to Ufo species are given. Two Ufo species, U. shirakashii (Shinji) and U. shirokashicola (Shinji) are transferred to Saphonecrus. All taxa are support...

In the present study, we assessed the genetic diversity and population structure of Greater Mouse-eared bat Myotis myotis colonies in the Carpathian Region. We have analyzed 100 individual bat samples from five maternity colonies and compared our data set with those in existing publications. At the microsatellite level, colonies from the region are...

Insect-induced galls on plants comprise species-rich but self-contained communities of herbivores and natural enemies. In the present study, we focus on galls induced by cynipid gall wasps on oaks, and on the least-known trophic level that these galls contain: inquilines. These insects, also cynipids, feed on gall tissue and are an abundant but tax...

We investigated intersexual morphological differences in tree sparrows (Passer montanus), a species being considered as sexually monomorphic. Molecular sexing of the birds was performed by PCR amplification of the sex chromosome-linked CHD1 gene introns. All measured traits (body weight, wing, tail and tarsus length, bill size and the size of the b...

The Nimrod gene superfamily is an important component of the innate immune response. The majority of its member genes are located in close proximity within the Drosophila melanogaster genome and they lie in a larger conserved cluster ("Nimrod cluster"), made up of non-related groups (families, superfamilies) of genes. This cluster has been a part o...

We discuss the taxonomy of oak gallwasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) whose lifecycle involves only Palaearctic oaks (Quercus subgen. Quercus) in the section Cerris. Recent phylogenetic reconstructions support a deep split between such Cerris-associated species in the genera Aphelonyx, Dryocosmus, Plagiotrochus, Neuroterus, Pseudoneuroterus a...

We examine phylogenetic relationships within the Synergus complex of herbivorous inquiline gallwasps (Hymenoptera; Cynipidae; Synergini) associated with cynipid host galls on oak, a biologically diverse group whose genus-level morphological taxonomy has long been considered stable but whose species level taxonomy is problematic. We incorporate data...

Background and Purpose: Two leaf miners, Parectopa robiniella and Phyllonorycter robiniella (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae), native to North America, were stablished in Europe. These two invaders provide an excellent opportunity to study the insertion of new species into an existing host-parasitoid community. The following hypotheses were tested: (i)...

Social behaviour of group-living animals is often influenced by the relatedness of individuals, thus understanding the genetic structure of groups is important for the interpretation of costs and benefits of social interactions. In this study, we investigated genetic relatedness in feeding aggregations of free-living house sparrows (Passer domestic...

A Dorcadion cervae (Frivaldszky 1892) fokozottan védett endemikus faj, mely a Duna-Tisza közi szikesek ürmöspusztáin él. Taxonómiai rangja vitatott: egyes szerzők morfológiai elemzések alapján önálló fajnak tekintik, mások azonban a barna gyalogcincér (Dorcadion fulvum) ökológiai alfajának tartják. Célunk egyrészt a pusztai gyalogcincér populációs...

Non-aggressive social interactions between group-mates, e.g. maintenance of spatial proximity or activity synchrony are basic elements of a species' social structure, and were found to be associated with important fitness consequences in group-living animals. In the establishment of such affiliative relationships, kinship has often been identified...

Several unanswered questions remain regarding the taxonomy and phylogeny of inquiline gallwasps (Cynipidae: Synergini), obligate inhabitants of plant galls induced primarily by other gallwasps (Cynipidae: Cynipini and Diplolepidini). Here we use morphological and molecular data to revise the inquiline genus Synophrus, members of which are notable f...

Kin-selection theory predicts that relatedness may reduce the level of aggression among competing group members, leading to indirect fitness benefits for kin-favoring individuals. To test this hypothesis, we investigated whether relatedness affects aggressive behavior during social activities in captive house sparrow (Passer domesticus) flocks. We...

Number of alleles, allele sizes, and their estimated frequencies in the seven highly polymorphic microsatellite loci for 61 house sparrows in our study

The Lozekia–Kovacsia species group comprises three species of high conservation concern, Lozekia transsilvanica (Westerlund, 1876), Lozekia deubeli (M. Kimakowicz, 1890) and Kovacsia kovacsi (Varga and L. Pinte, 1972), which occupy relatively small ranges in the Carpathian-Pannonian region. Despite their conservation concern, the phylogeny and biog...

Kin selection is often important in the evolution of reproductive behaviour, but we know much less about its significance for nonreproductive social groups. We investigated whether relatedness affects social-foraging behaviour in captive house sparrow, Passer domesticus, flocks, where birds may either search for food or exploit flockmates' food fin...

We have investigated the diversity of mitochondrial COI gene sequences of Pomatias rivulare populations, originated from the western edge of the species' area. COI gene has not shown any variability, the same haplotype was found in all of the examined Hungarian, Romanian, Serbian and Montenegrin populations, which arises most probably from a rapid...

Cited By (since 1996):2, Export Date: 4 June 2013, Source: Scopus

The recently identified Nimrod superfamily is characterized by the presence of a special type of EGF repeat, the NIM repeat, located right after a typical CCXGY/W amino acid motif. On the basis of structural features, nimrod genes can be divided into three types. The proteins encoded by Draper-type genes have an EMI domain at the N-terminal part an...

Cited By (since 1996):11, Export Date: 4 June 2013, Source: Scopus

The models developed to characterize the evolution of multigene families (such as the birth-and-death and the concerted models) have also been applied on the level of sequence repeats inside a gene/protein. Phylogenetic reconstruction is the method of choice to study the evolution of gene families and also sequence repeats in the light of these mod...

Fourteen new species of oak gallwasps, Andricus istvani, Andricus assarehi, Andricus schoenroggei, Andricus csokai, Andricus chodjaii, Andricus megatruncicolus, Andricus coriariformis, Andricus libani, Andricus stellatus, Andricus pseudoaries, Andricus sadeghii, Andricus atkinsonae, Andricus pujadevillari and Dryocosmus caspiensis (Hymenoptera: Cyn...

The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi colonizing the sporophytes of the eusporangiate rattlesnake fern (Botrychium virginianum, Ophioglossaceae) in its Hungarian population were investigated in the present study. Different regions of the nrRNA gene complex were analyzed using two different primer sets. These produced similar results for the detecte...

Documenting the morph-specific variation of floral traits associated with reciprocal herkogamy is of special importance for revealing the functional significance of traits in the evolution and maintenance of the heterostylous syndrome. In order to describe the extent and specificity of variation, stigma height, anther height, stigma-anther separati...

Cited By (since 1996):5, Export Date: 4 June 2013, Source: Scopus

The skeletomusculature of the head and mesosoma of the parasitoid wasp family Scelionidae is reviewed. Representatives of 27 scelionid genera are examined together with 13 non-scelionid taxa for comparison. Terms employed for other groups of Hymenoptera are reviewed, and a consensus terminology is proposed. External characters are redescribed and c...

A magyar futrinka (Carabus hungaricus) faj tudomá-nyos leírója a dán entomológus, Fabricius volt, 1792-ben. Ekkor még nem tudhatta, hogy az újonnan elnevezett futó-bogár neve milyen találó, hiszen ez a faj a Kárpát-medence füves pusztáinak jellegzetes lakója, ugyanakkor az eurázsiai sztyeppzónában elterjedt, ahonnan a magya-rok származnak. Vizsgála...

A nagy testû futrinkák (Carabus-fajok) méretük, feltûnõ megjelenésük, nem utolsósorban pedig szépségük miatt mindig is kitüntetett figyelemben részesültek. Viszonylag könnyen gyûjthetõk és azonosíthatók, ezért a legtöbb bo-gárgyûjteményben helyet kapnak, elterjedésükrõl éppen ezért aránylag sokat tudunk. Fajaik elõkelõ helyen szerepel-nek a hazai é...

Abstract Oak gallwasps (Hymenoptera; Cynipidae, tribe Cynipini) are cyclically parthenogenetic insects that induce galls on specific plant hosts in the family Fagaceae. Understanding the processes underlying the evolution of specific oak associations requires knowledge of the phylogenetic relationships among oak gallwasp genera. Although three majo...

The species belonging to the filamentous fungal genus Trichoderma are well known to be potential biopesticide candidates for agricultural application. Several Trichoderma strains have been reported to be effective in promoting plant growth and in controlling plant diseases, and the action of fungal hydrolytic enzymes is considered as the main mecha...

Ten known cynipid inquiline species associated with oak cynipid galls (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae: Synergini and Cynipini), their distribution and host associations are given for the first time for the Iranian cynipid fauna: Ceroptres cerri Mayr, C. clavicornis Hartig, Saphonecrus haimi (Mayr), Synergus gallaepomiformis (B. de Fonsc), S. pallidipennis...

A new Synergini genus Ufo MELIKA et PUJADE-VILLAR gen. n. and a new species Ufo abei MELIKA et PUJADE-VILLAR sp. n. from Japan are described. Diagnostic characters for the separation of Ufo gen. n. from the related genera Saphonecrus and Synergus are given. Characters which these three genera and related species share are discussed. A key to Synerg...

Water activity (aw) and pH are probably the most important environmental parameters affecting the activities of mycoparasitic Trichoderma strains. Therefore it is important to collect information on the effects of these factors on mycelial growth and on the in vitro activities of extracellular enzymes involved in nutrient competition (e.g. beta-glu...

Fifteen somatic (D8S1179, D21S11, D7S820, CSF1PO, D3S1358, TH01, D13S317, D16S539, D2S1338, D19S433, VWA, TPOX, D18S51, D5S818, FGA) and five Y-chromosome (DYS19, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393) short tandem repeat (STR) system analyses were carried out in a Mongolian population in order to define the possible relationship between Mongolians and ol...

Four Y-chromosome (DYS19, DYS389/I, DYS390, DYS393) short tandem repeat (STR) polymorph systems were typed in two isolated “Hungarian” (Székely) populations. Székelys are known as Hungarian people but the origin of Székely population is still unknown. It was aimed to determine the degree of relationship between the investigated and a mixed Hungaria...

DsRNA viruses were transferred from a virus-containing strain to a virus-free strain of Phaffia rhodozyma by protoplast fusion. The resulting new strain carried all three types of dsRNA of the virus-containing strain and had the electrophoretic karyotype of the virus-free strain. The effects of the dsRNA viruses on the host fitness were checked by...

Possible adaptivity and mechanisms of nest construction of a paper wasp, Polistes dominulus , were studied by analyses of nest structures and modeling. Results suggest that nests are not built in agreement with the currently accepted “economy material usage” hypothesis because (1) the number of natural forms is much less than expected under this cr...

We constructed a simple model to show that the variability of nest structures in the social wasp genus Polistes could result from a simple algorithm modulated by a single parameter. The interplay between the simple algorithm and the geometry of the nest structure resulted in isotropic growth. New construction on the sides of the comb was initiated...

The intraspecific variability of the nest structures ofPolistes dominulus is described quantitatively. Several variables already used in the literature (e.g. wall expenditure and diameter ratio) are reexamined and a number of new ones are suggested. Variables are analyzed with respect to their dependency on the size and the maturation of the colony...

A simple model based on feedback mechanisms is developed to describe the dynamics of brood production and colony development of primitively eusocial paper wasps. The presence of pupae and empty cells stimulate egg laying, which varies between a basic rate and a physiological maximum. Newly hatched larvae are fed eggs, causing fluctuations in brood...

The characteristic round combs of social wasps contain individual cells for brood. Although the coherent and well-organized structure of this construction suggests its adaptive value for the colony, several mechanisms of comb building have not yet been elucidated. A self-organization model is presented here to demonstrate how the comb structure dev...

The process of thermal inactivation of triosephosphate isomerase covalently attached to a silica-based support activated with p-benzoquinone was found to be a complex one. At 50 degrees C, a characteristic activation preceding the thermal inactivation was observed. Following the intramolecular changes caused by heat, the values of K(M) and V(max) w...

Pig muscle aldolase was covalently attached to a polyacrylamide support possessing carboxylic functional groups activated by various water-soluble disubstituted carbodiimides. The stability and the degree of microheterogeneity of the immobilized aldolases were shown to depend on the structure of the carbodiimide used as coupling agent.

In this preliminary study, we investigated the ef fects of short-term habitat fragmentation on genetic (RAPD) diversity in two Armadillidium vulgare populations. Overall, the gene diversity seemed to be moderate. Genetic structure was analyz ed at two levels corresponding to two spatial scales: within and between populations. Using diffe rent appro...

The aim of this paper is to encourage reluctant ecologists thinking more on the use of genetic markers. No training in molecular methods is supposed. The resistance may be explained by the confusion of the high number of methods, including laboratory techniques (named by up to four characters) and evaluation. Inevitably, field work needs some extra...

Célunk betekintést nyerni a Nyugat-Palearktikus tölgy gubacsdarázs társbérlők (Cynipidae, Synergini) differenciálódásának természetébe. Elvégeztük a Synergini molekuláris filogenetikai rekonstrukcióját magi és mitokondriális DNS szekvenciák alapján. Tisztázásra került a Synophrus fajok filogenetikai helyzete. A Synergus umbraculus differenciációját...

A Drosophila sejtközvetítette immunválaszának szabályozását vizsgáltuk valamint molekuláris immunológiai és genetikai ismeretek elsajátítását és projekt építését tettük lehetővé a tudomány iránt érdeklődő diákok és kutatók számára.Adult Drosophila vérsejtjeire, makrofágokra és a lamellocitákra jellemző markereket azonosítottunk.Az L5 antigén a lame...