NewDatatotheScaleInsect(Hemiptera: Coccoidea)FaunaofMezôföld(Hungary)

Sixty three scale insect species are reported from the Mezofold area (Hungary), a mosaic area of pre dominantlyintensiveagriculturallandandscatteredgrasslandandforestedareas.Incomparison,fromtheKorosMaros National Park, dominated by natural grassland areas, only 31 species were reported. From the Mezofold data 4 species were new for the Hungarian fauna and almost all species from Mezofold were new for the given locality. The Mezofold fauna could be characterised by more rare species and a lower Global FrequencyValue (=higher level of species rarity), suggesting a higher overall conservation value. Scale insect species numbers showastrongnegativecorrelationwiththeratioofwoodyplantations.Therewasanoverwhelmingpresenceof a steppic scale insect species in grassland assemblages, and impoverished woody fauna of the studied wooded areas. However, there was no correlation with plant species number, with the area of natural vegetation, or with the area of loess steppe patches, which shows that the original loess step fauna is impoverished, heavily dis turbed. In summary we can say, that the Mezofold loess scale insect fauna is relatively poor, could be charac terised by widely distributed, mezophilous, common species. However, it also has several important steppic elements, and therefore deserves protection.