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Background: There is scarce information about European folk knowledge of wild invertebrate fauna. We have documented such folk knowledge in three regions, in Romania, Slovakia and Croatia. We provide a list of folk taxa, and discuss folk biological classification and nomenclature, salient features, uses, related proverbs and sayings, and conservation. Methods: We collected data among Hungarian-speaking people practising small-scale, traditional agriculture. We studied "all" invertebrate species (species groups) potentially occurring in the vicinity of the settlements. We used photos, held semi-structured interviews, and conducted picture sorting. Results: We documented 208 invertebrate folk taxa. Many species were known which have, to our knowledge, no economic significance. 36 % of the species were known to at least half of the informants. Knowledge reliability was high, although informants were sometimes prone to exaggeration. 93 % of folk taxa had their own individual names, and 90 % of the taxa were embedded in the folk taxonomy. Twenty four species were of direct use to humans (4 medicinal, 5 consumed, 11 as bait, 2 as playthings). Completely new was the discovery that the honey stomachs of black-coloured carpenter bees (Xylocopa violacea, X. valga) were consumed. 30 taxa were associated with a proverb or used for weather forecasting, or predicting harvests. Conscious ideas about conserving invertebrates only occurred with a few taxa, but informants would generally refrain from harming firebugs (Pyrrhocoris apterus), field crickets (Gryllus campestris) and most butterflies. We did not find any mythical creatures among invertebrate folk taxa. Almost every invertebrate species was regarded as basically harmful. Where possible, they were destroyed or at least regarded as worth eradicating. However, we could find no evidence to suggest any invertebrate species had suffered population loss as a result of conscious destruction. Sometimes knowledge pertaining to the taxa could have more general relevance, and be regarded as folk wisdom concerning the functioning of nature as a whole. Conclusions: The high number of known invertebrate folk taxa suggests that it would be worth conducting further investigations in other areas of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our data emphasize the fact that calcareous powder on the soil, coming from Mateiasu limestone mining, influences Collembola and Acarina fauna from the polluted soils, reducing their individual number. Thus, the differences between numerical densities of Collembola from polluted areas, by comparison with unpolluted soils, were, in all cases, significant, with a "d" value > 3.291, which justifies null hypothesis resignation, with a probability "p" = 0.001. In the case of Acarina, between beech areas (unpolluted and polluted ones), the difference was significant, with a value "d" > 2.576 and a probability "p" = 0.01. In the case of pine and meadow areas, "d" value > 3.291 and probability "p" = 0.001, which also justifies the resignation of null hypothesis. In the condition of working with the same technics for sample prelevation, in the condition of comparing these densities of pairs of arias with the same type of vegetation, the explanation of existing significant differences between the numerical densities of Collembola and Acarina remains the influence of pollution of soils with calcareous powder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late Miocene, a large inland sea known as the Eastern Paratethys stretched out across the present-day Black Sea – Caspian Sea region. The basin was mostly endorheic and its water budget thus strongly dependent on regional climate. The basin was therefore prone to high-amplitude water-level fluctuations and associated turnovers in water chemistry and fauna. Profound palaeoenvironmental changes happened in the Eastern Paratethys during this time period. This article documents the evolution of the Dacian Basin of Romania, the westernmost branch of the Eastern Paratethys, during the time interval between 7.7 and 6.0 Ma. Our integrated study of sedimentary facies, micro- and macro fauna along the Slănicul de Buzău Section was constrained with a timeframe based on magnetostratigraphy. The remarkable 1.3 km-thick sedimentary record, high depositional rate (0.65–1.26 m/kyr) and abundance of fossils along this section provide a unique opportunity to study sedimentary and biotic turnovers in high detail. Our analyses reveal several marked water-level and salinity changes: A predominance of freshwater coastal plain environments, only occasionally flooded, indicates a low water-level in the Khersonian (~7.7–7.63 Ma). The coastal plain deposits are overlain by offshore muds revealing a low mesohaline early Maeotian transgression, which was followed by the installation of littoral/nearshore environments with freshwater molluscs in shallow settings and oligohaline ostracods in slightly deeper settings. Subsequent delta progradation and a prevalence of freshwater fauna in both marginal and more distal environments characterize the late Maeotian. This was followed by a remarkable freshwater transgression that started at 6.3 Ma and led to predominantly offshore deposition. The late Maeotian fossil record suggests brackish water pulses from Lake Pannon (Central Paratethys), followed by mass occurrences of Coelogonia novorossica. At 6.1 Ma, a short influx of meso- to polyhaline microfauna including benthic and planktonic foraminifera defines the "Pontian Salinity Incursion". Molluscs, including Eupatorina littoralis , that biostratigraphically mark the onset of the Pontian arrived with a negligible delay of ~5 kyr after the microfauna influx. The onset of the Pontian at Slănicul de Buzau at 6.1 Ma (± 5 kyr), is thus synchronous with the onset in other Paratethys basins. Our integrated approach, placing the preserved fossil fauna in its respective sedimentary environment, allows for a detailed insight into the salinity of coeval marginal as well as basinal environments and could be more widely applied in the Paratethys realm and other semi-isolated basins with a deviant salinity. • Khersonian water level drops followed by coastal plain/lagoon depositional settings. • Termination of Khersonian lowstand by mesohaline Maeotian transgression at ~7.63 Ma • Oligohaline lower Maeotian and predominantly freshwater upper Maeotian environments • Freshwater upper Maeotian transgression in Slănicul de Buzău at ~6.3 Ma. • Pontian begins with an influx of meso-polyhaline microfauna at ~6.1 Ma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]