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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]

Most ethnobiological research on mammals has focused on the domesticated species and largely ignored the wild taxa. We carried out a research among the ethnic Hungarians in Nuşfalău, Romania, to document the local ecological knowledge on mammals. We studied which kinds of local wild mammals the villagers know, which folk taxa they can identify, the names they use for these taxa, and what do they know about the morphological, behavioural and ecological characteristics, as well as the economical impact of these mammals. Twenty persons were interviewed with the aid of colour photographs of 62 mammal species. Five hundred and twenty three individual data on the various folk taxa were thus gathered. The majority of the interviewees were still possessed surprisingly detailed and precise knowledge on the wild species living in their surroundings. They classified the 62 mammal species into 42 folk taxa and grouped them into 11 larger sets. The groupings were almost similar to the scientific classification except for one group which mainly contained mice and voles. The eastern hedgehog (Erinaceus roumanicus) had a unique taxonomy with two highly distinct folk taxa. The characteristics of the known folk taxa were described according to their morphological, ethological-ecological, and cultural salience. In the case of physical appearance, naming of a prototype and comparing to it was typical. In terms of ecological salience of feeding habit, characteristics of movement, habitat, breeding habit, bashfulness, voice, annual and daily pattern of behaviour, and observability were the most important characteristics. The comparison to humans was particularly important when describing behaviour. In terms of cultural salience, the characterization of harm caused and benefit gained was unequivocally dominant. The overwhelming majority of the species were known through personal experience. The effect of books and media was negligible. Local knowledge of wild animals is part of our common European cultural heritage. This knowledge is fading rapidly, and most of it may be lost in the next decades [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]