The paper presents the results of a study of the prevalence of Ixodid ticks - potential carriers of tick-borne rickettsiosis pathogens. Ectoparasites were collected in various natural and climatic zones of the Crimean Peninsula within the year 2016-2018. As a result of screening with the help of real-time PCR analysis (PCR-RT), a genetic marker (a section of the gltA gene) of the rickettsia group of tick-borne spotted fever was detected in ticks. The most common DNA marker of rickettsia was found in ticks in the eastern regions of the steppe zone - 50,6 %, in the north-western part of the steppe zone this value was 12,0 %. The least amount of rickettsia target DNA was detected in ticks collected in the mountain forest and south bank zones - 4,5 %. As a result of sequencing of positive DNA samples from fragments of the gltA, ompA, ompB, and sca4 genes, the species composition of rickettsias was established. The DNA of 8 species of rickettsia was identified: Circulation of three R. conorii, R. massiliae, R. sibirica subsp. mongolotimonae, R. slovaca, R. aeschlimannii, R. monacensis, R. helvetica, R. raoultii. R. massiliae, R. slovaca, and R. helvetica were established in the Crimean Peninsula for the first time. The peculiarities of the geographical distribution of the identified rickettsia species were determined, which was due to the spread of mites-carriers of pathogens. The revealed diversity of rickettsia species and their vectors, due to the isolation of the areas of the main feeding animals and the established routes of migratory birds, suggests the circulation of other rickettsia species on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula. The obtained results suggest that the diseases of tick-borne rickettsiosis in the Crimean Peninsula can be caused not only by R. conorii, as previously thought, but also by other types of rickettsii.
The range of Tyto alba overlaps with that of Asio otus in a large part of the Holarctic. Both species are adapted to open-area hunting and prey upon similar species. In contrast to A. otus, data about the diet of T. alba on Crimea and surroundings are extremely scarce. Our study aimed to describe the prey spectrum of T. alba and evaluate at what extant its diet overlaps to that of A. otus. We evaluated diets based on 48 pellets of T. alba and 88 of A. otus collected from January to March 2018 in the Western part of the Crimea Peninsula. Simultaneously, we assessed the availability of small mammal prey by installing 150 spring-loaded bar mousetraps around the collection sites. Small mammals were the main prey in the diet of T. alba and A. otus (99.2% and 100% of all individuals in pellets). The most consumed species of both species was Microtus socialis (52.3% and 74.4% of all individuals). The second most consumed species of T. alba was Crocidura leucodon, an endangered species in Crimea. The diet of T. alba was more diverse than that of A. otus (Shannon diversity Index: 1.1 and 0.76, Simpson Index: 0.51 and 0.31, respectively). However, their diets overlapped widely (Pianka's index = 0.94). The frequency of mammalian prey in traps correlated moderately with that in A. otus pellets (r s = 0.5, p < 0.2), and it deviated from the frequency of mammalian prey in T. alba pellets (r s =-0.05, p < 0.9). The presence of the endangered C. leucodon in the diet of T. alba reinforce the utility of this predator species as a tool to detect threatened or rare small mammals that are not caught by traps and to increase information about their geographical distribution.
A dataset comprising 6806 records is presented of 17 (of total 24) rodent and insectivore species from the Crimean Peninsula collected during a 35-year period. All records are stored in the Public Mammal Database (Mammals of Russia; http://rusmam.ru/). The density of occurrence points allows visual evaluation of species distribution, even on large-scale maps. Each record contains the species name, locality description, and geographic coordinates, coordinate accuracy, date and author of the record, data source, and the method of species identification.
Розповсюдження та динаміка чисельності Micromammalia Криму. -Товпинець М., Євстафьєв І. -Наведено дані про сучасне розповсюдження більшості видів дрібних ссавців Криму. Фауну мікромаммалій складають 19 видів, що становить 52,8 % всього складу наземної теріофауни півострова. Вказуються особливості динаміки чисельності залежно від ландшафтно-екологічної зональності півострову 15 видів. Показано, що в цілому основу чисельності і характер її динаміки формують 1-2 види: в Рівнинному Криму -степова і хатня миші, в Гірсько-лісовій зоні -алтайська полівка і мала лісова миша. К л ю ч о в і с л о в а : дрібні ссавці, чисельність, розповсюдження, Крим. Distribution and dynamics of abundance of Micromammalia in the Crimea. -Tovpinets N., Evstafiev I. -Data on modern distribution of majority of small mammal species in the Crimea are presented. Micromammalian fauna includes 19 species, 52.8 % of Crimean terrestrial mammalian fauna. Aspects of population dynamics for 15 species are analyzed with regard to landscape and ecological zonation of peninsula. The basis of small mammal abundance, as well as character of its dynamics in each landscape-ecological zone, is formed by 1 or 2 species: the steppe and the house mouse on the Crimean plain, and the Altai vole and the Ural mouse in the mountainous zone. K e y w o r d s : small mammals, abundance, distribution, Crimea. ВведениеИсследование динамики численности животных является одной из важнейших задач экологии. Исследования закономерностей динамики численности каждого вида мелких млекопитающих, насекомоядных и грызунов, позволяют понять механизмы движения численности сообществ животных в целом, и на этой основе осуществлять ее прогноз, разрабатывать мероприятия как по сохранению биоразнообразия, так и по контролю численности.Анализ обширной литературы по млекопитающим Восточной Европы показывает, что материалов по животным Крыма очень мало, особенно в периодической печати. Ранее в литературе по Крыму указывали лишь общие сведения по фауне или данные по распространению и численности отдельных видов (
Yersinia infections are recorded worldwide and sapronotic natural foci of Yersinia enterocolitica and Y. pseudotuberculosis infections also occur in the Crimean Peninsula. Here we studied the distribution and prevalence of pathogenic Yersiniae among small mammals of the Crimean Peninsula based on results of epizootiological monitoring of natural foci infections. Pathogenic Y. enterocolitica were found in 10 species of small mammals, and the average number of infected specimens in the Crimea was 0.11 ± 0.03. The highest prevalence of yersiniosis pathogens was recorded among specimens of M. socialis (4.22 %), M. spicilegus (2.06 %), C. leucodon (1.96 %), S. flavicollis (1.85 %), and S. uralensis (1.33 %). The number of small mammals that are carriers of pathogens of yersinioses varies significantly in different natural zones of the Crimean Peninsula. In the mountain-forest zone, the prevalence of Y. enterocolitica among Micromammalia is 2.94 %, in the foothills it decreases to 0.99 %, in the lowland — to 0.77 % with a lowest value of 0.62 % in steppe areas of the Kerch Peninsula. Results show a decreasing pattern of prevalence of Y. enterocolitica among small mammals from the mountain-forest zone to plain steppe. A reverse trend was revealed for the prevalence of Y. pseudo¬tuberculosis among Micromammalia: 0.03 % in the mountains, 0.17 % in the foothills, and 0.25 % in the steppe. The number of trap-lines with records of Micromammalia having both infections varies from 18.3 % in the foothills to 21.3 % in the mountains and 24.8 % in the steppe zone. The portion of trap-lines with three and more infections is also high (6.7 % in the mountains and foothills and 5.5 % in the steppe). The obtained results show a wide distribution of combined foci in the Crimea. Considering that, in the peninsula, several tick-transmitted and other zoonotic infections (e.g. tick-borne encephalitis and borrelioses, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, Marseilles fever, Q fever, etc.) are widely distributed in the same areas and the pathogens of which are able to reproduce in the same small mammal species as those of yersiniosis and pseudotuberculosis, the real number of combined foci and their diversity in the Crimea could be 3 to 5 times higher.
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