Summary: | Chiroptera on the territory of the Republic of Moldova began to be researched at the end of the 1950s. Currently, there are 21 species of bats on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, and most of them are found in the central and northern areas of the country, because they have favorable conditions of existence, have shelters for hibernation and reproduction, represented by caves, abandoned mines, forests with deciduous trees, as well as the most diverse types of constructions for anthropophilic species. Our research was carried out between 2013 and 2022 in the central and northern areas of the republic. The underground shelters of natural and anthropogenic origin were studied ndash; the caves from Brânzeni, Buzdugeni, Vâșcăuți, the abandoned stone mines from Cricova, Goianul Nou, Saharna, Bâcioc, Gordinești, Cupcini, Vâșcăuți, Mașcăuți, Molovata, Molovata Noua, Holercani, Trebujeni, Varnița. In the conducted research, the following species were captured and identified: Rhinolophusnbsp;hipposideros, Myotis myotis, M. blythii, M. bechshteinii, M. daubentonii, M. dasycneme, M. mystacinus, Barbastella barbastellus, Eptesicus serotinus, Plecotus austriacus and P. auritus. The dominant species in the northern area is M. blythii which constitutes 97% of all identified individuals, and the other species constitute 3%, found in the mines of Gordinești, Cupcini and the caves of Buzdugeni and Brânzeni. In the central area of the country, the most populated underground shelters are those in Cricova, Mașcăuți, Goianul Nou, Bîcioc and Molovata Nouă. The anthropogenic factor, as well as the climatic factor, still remain the ones that delimit the distribution area of many species of bats.
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