title: Geographic distribution of Gryllotalpa stepposa in south-eastern Europe, with first records for Romania, Hungary and Serbia (Insecta, Orthoptera, Gryllotalpidae).
abstract: Described from the steppe zones north of the Black Sea, Caucasus, and central Asia, Gryllotalpa stepposa Zhantiev was recently recorded from a few localities in Greece, R. Macedonia, and Bulgaria. In May 2015, several specimens were collected from Ivrinezu Mare in Romania, which suggested a continuous distribution area of the species, stretching from the central Balkans to central Asia. Thus, to reveal its actual range of occurrence, a survey of several Orthoptera collections became mandatory and, as expected, a large number of misidentified specimens of Gryllotalpa stepposa were discovered, providing new data on the species distribution in south-eastern Europe, including also the first records of this mole cricket in Serbia and Hungary. Here a full locality list is presented of this species west of Ukraine and Moldova and the current geographic distribution of the genus Gryllotalpa in the Balkans is revised. A key for distinguishing the mole crickets in south-eastern Europe and a distribution map for this region are presented.
authors.affiliation: "Grigore Antipa" National Museum of Natural History, 1 Kiseleff Blvd., 011341 Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: Ionuț Ștefan
authors.initials: IȘ
authors.lastname: Iorgu
authors.affiliation: "Grigore Antipa" National Museum of Natural History, 1 Kiseleff Blvd., 011341 Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: Elena Iulia
authors.initials: EI
authors.lastname: Iorgu
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, 13 Baross u., H-1088, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Gellért
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Puskás
authors.affiliation: 14 Lovačka, 21410 Futog, Serbia.
authors.forename: Slobodan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ivković
authors.affiliation: "St. Kliment Ohridski" University, Faculty of Biology, 8 Dragan Tsankov Blvd., 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Simeon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Borisov
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biology, Romanian Academy, 296 Independenţei Blvd., P.O. Box 56-53, 060031 Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: Viorel Dumitru
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Gavril
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1 Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd., 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Dragan Petrov
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Chobanov
keywords: Distribution; Gryllotalpa; Orthoptera; south-eastern Europe