A Wiki-based Key to Garden and Village Birds

A Wiki-based Key to Garden and Village Birds is available in two versions: a dichotomous, hyperlinked and printable version, and as step-bystep identification version. It is supported by jKey Player in English, Slovenian, Spanish, Romanian and German

FAUNA TVRDIH KRPELJA (ACARI: IXODIDAE) RAZLIČITIH STANIŠTA U HRVATSKOM DIJELU BARANJE

In 5 different habitats in the Croatian part of Baranja in the surroundings of the city Beli Manastir, in the period from March to October 2013, 1254 specimens of hard ticks were collected using the flag dragging method, whereas 240 specimens were collected by hand from pets. Five tick species were identified from collected sample: Dermacentor marginatus (Sulzer, 1776), Dermacentor reticulatus (Fabricius, 1794), Haemaphysalis concinna (Koch, 1844), Haemaphysalis inermis (Birula, 1895) and Ixodes ricinus (Linnaeus, 1758). In the forest habitats at the locality Haljevo, the highest number (80.45 %) of hard ticks was sampled. The most abundant species was Ixodes ricinus with 65.93 %. The highest number (55.49 %) of ticks were sampled in the developmental stage of larvae. In the developmental stage of larvae Haemaphysalis concinna was represented with 94.71 %, Ixodes ricinus with 38.48 % and Haemaphysalis inermis with 6.90 %. The highest number of hard ticks larvae 71.53 % was sampled in July, whereas the highest number of adults 58.50 % was sampled in April. Haemaphysalis inermis was found for the first time on the area of continental part of Croatia.U Hrvatskoj, intenzivna istraživanja faune tvrdih krpelja (Acari: Ixodidae) počinju u drugoj polovici 20 stoljeća. U tom razdoblju prof. dr. sc. Davor Mikačić prikazuje rasprostranjenost i sezonsku dinamiku tvrdih krpelja na otocima i lokalitetima uz obalu Jadranskog mora. Tijekom sedamdesetih i osamdesetih godina prošloga stoljeća prof. dr. sc. Danica Tovornik istražuje raznolikost faune krpelja te ekološke značajke tvrdih krpelja na otocima hrvatskoga Jadrana. Međutim, mnoga područja u unutrašnjosti Hrvatske ostala su nedovoljno istražena. Jedno od takvih područja je i područje Slavonije i Baranje u istočnoj Hrvatskoj, gdje su tvrdi krpelji uzorkovani samo na četiri lokaliteta, te je to bio glavni razlog za istraživanje raznolikosti faune tvrdih krpelja u Hrvatskom dijelu Baranje u okolici grada Belog Manastira. Na pet različitih staništa u okolici grada, u razdoblju od ožujka do listopada 2013. godine tvrdi krpelji su uzorkovani krpeljnom zategom. Uzorkovanje je obavljeno jednom mjesečno na sljedećim staništima: na rubovima ribnjaka i melioracijskih kanala uz oranice, u šumi hrasta lužnjaka i običnog graba (as. Carpino betuli – Quercetum roboris Ht. 1938), na livadi uz gradske bazene i u parku u središtu grada. Dužina transekta na kojemu je obavljeno uzorkovanje iznosila je 20 metara. Nekoliko tvrdih krpelja tijekom istraživanog razdoblja uzorkovano je i rukom na kućnim ljubimcima. Krpeljnom zategom uzorkovano je 1 254 jedinki tvrdih krpelja, a na kućnim ljubimcima uzorkovano ih je 240. U skupljenom uzorku utvrđeno je pet vrsta tvrdih krpelja: Dermacentor marginatus (Sulzer, 1776), Dermacentor reticulatus (Fabricius, 1794), Haemaphysalis concinna (Koch, 1844), Haemaphysalis inermis (Birula, 1895) i Ixodes ricinus (Linnaeus, 1758). Najbrojnija vrsta tvrdih krpelja je Ixodes ricinus sa 65,93 %, slijede vrste Haemaphysalis concinna s 31,66 %, Haemaphysalis inermis s 1,94 %, Dermacentor reticulatus s 0,4 % i Dermacentor marginatus s 0,07 %. U šumskom tipu staništa na lokalitetu Haljevo uzorkovan je najveći broj jedinki tvrdih krpelja (80,45 %), svrstanih u vrste: Dermacentor marginatus, Haemaphysalis concinna, Haemaphysalis inermis i Ixodes ricinus. Vrsta Ixodes ricinus je na lokalitetu u šumi Haljevo najbrojnija, što je u suglasnosti s rezultatima mnogih terenskih istraživanja diljem Europe u kojima je također vrsta Ixodes ricinus u šumskim tipovima staništa najbrojnija. U stadiju imaga vrsta Ixodes ricinus bila je najbrojnija u travnju, dok je u stadiju ličinke najbrojnija u mjesecu srpnju. Od ožujka pa sve do sredine svibnja, vrsta Ixodes ricinus uzorkovana je u razvojnim stadijima nimfe i imaga, dok je u mjesecu srpnju uglavnom uzorkovana u stadiju ličinke i nimfe. To je u skladu sa sezonskom dinamikom pojedinih razvojnih stadija, jer tijekom srpnja dijapauza često zahvaća samo stadij imaga. Dostupnost velikog broja visoke divljači, jelena i srna najvjerojatniji je razlog velikog broja uzorkovanih tvrdih krpelja u šumi Haljevo. Na otvorenim tipovima staništa (livada uz rub ribnjaka, melioracijskih kanala, uz gradske bazene, park u središtu grada) uzorkovano je samo 3,48 % tvrdih krpelja, jer su otvorena staništa više podložna promjenama temperature i vlažnosti od šumskih staništa. Najviše tvrdih krpelja na istraživanom području (55,49 %) uzorkovano je u stadiju ličinke. Vrsta Haemaphysalis concinna u stadiju ličinke zastupljena je s 94,71 %, slijedi Ixodes ricinus s 38,48 %, te Haemaphysalis inermis s 6,90 %. U mjesecu srpnju uzorkovano je najviše ličinki tvrdih krpelja (71,53 %), dok je najviše imaga uzorkovano u mjesecu travnju (58,50 %). Sørensenov indeks faunističke sličnosti pokazuje najveću sličnost u fauni krpelja između staništa uz rub ribnjaka i livade uz gradske bazene, te iznosi 100 %, dok je sličnost između šume i ruba ribnjaka, te šume i livade iznosila svega 40 %. Ulov vrste Haemaphysalis inermis prvi je nalaz za područje kontinentalnog dijela Hrvatske, s obzirom da je dosada zabilježena samo na četiri lokaliteta u mediteranskom dijelu Hrvatske

Matija Gogala celebrates his 77th birthday

Matija Gogala celebrates his 77th birthday on December 11th 2014. He is among the pioneer researchers of modern insect physiology and bioacoustics not only in Europe, but also worldwide. The authors and the „Arbeitskreis Zikaden“ congratulate him warmly and wish him many good and busy years to come, and most of all, many more exiting days in the field that keep him busy

A change in tune : acoustic analysis of Malta’s cicadas reveals 162-year-old misnomer

For over 160 years, the cicadas inhabiting the Maltese Islands were assigned to the widespread European species Cicada orni Linnaeus. However, analysis of their calling song reveals with certainty that the taxon known to occur in the archipelago is, in fact, the sibling species Cicada barbara Stål.peer-reviewe

A change in tune : acoustic analysis of Malta’s cicadas reveals 162-year-old misnomer

For over 160 years, the cicadas inhabiting the Maltese Islands were assigned to the widespread European species Cicada orni Linnaeus. However, analysis of their calling song reveals with certainty that the taxon known to occur in the archipelago is, in fact, the sibling species Cicada barbara Stål.peer-reviewe

Host dispersal shapes the population structure of a tick-borne bacterial pathogen

Birds are hosts for several zoonotic pathogens. Because of their high mobility, especially of longdistance migrants, birds can disperse these pathogens, affecting their distribution and phylogeography. We focused on Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, which includes the causative agents of Lyme borreliosis, as an example for tick-borne pathogens, to address the role of birds as propagation hosts of zoonotic agents at a large geographical scale. We collected ticks from passerine birds in 11 European countries. B. burgdorferi s.l. prevalence in Ixodes spp. was 37% and increased with latitude. The fieldfare Turdus pilaris and the blackbird T. merula carried ticks with the highest Borrelia prevalence (92 and 58%, respectively), whereas robin Erithacus rubecula ticks were the least infected (3.8%). Borrelia garinii was the most prevalent genospecies (61%), followed by B. valaisiana (24%), B. afzelii (9%), B. turdi (5%) and B. lusitaniae (0.5%). A novel Borrelia genospecies "Candidatus Borrelia aligera" was also detected. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis of B. garinii isolates together with the global collection of B. garinii genotypes obtained from the Borrelia MLST public database revealed that: (a) there was little overlap among genotypes from different continents, (b) there was no geographical structuring within Europe, and (c) there was no evident association pattern detectable among B. garinii genotypes from ticks feeding on birds, questing ticks or human isolates. These findings strengthen the hypothesis that the population structure and evolutionary biology of tick-borne pathogens are shaped by their host associations and the movement patterns of these hosts.Peer reviewe

Ektoparaziti iz gnijezda sivog puha (Myoxus glis) u Sloveniji

In a mountain area in the Dinaric beech-fir forests of southern Slovenia, sixty summer nests of Myoxus glis were collected. In these nests, 1984 males and 2547 females of Ceratophyllus (Monopsyllus) sciurorum sciurorum, 9117 flea larvae, 3 males and 4 females of Ceratophyllus hirundinis, 1 female of Ceratophyllus rusticus, 3 males of Oeciacus hirundinis and 3 males and 3 females of Schizophthirus sp. were found. This was the second time that Ceratophylluls rusticus and Oeciacus hirundinis and the third time that Schizophthirus sp. were found in Slovenia. The developmental cycle of Ceratophyllus (Monopsyllus) sciurorum sciurorum is described.In a mountain area in the Dinaric beech-fir forests of southern Slovenia, sixty summer nests of Myoxus glis were collected. In these nests, 1984 males and 2547 females of Ceratophyllus (Monopsyllus) sciurorum sciurorum, 9117 flea larvae, 3 males and 4 females of Ceratophyllus hirundinis, 1 female of Ceratophyllus rusticus, 3 males of Oeciacus hirundinis and 3 males and 3 females of Schizophthirus sp. were found. This was the second time that Ceratophylluls rusticus and Oeciacus hirundinis and the third time that Schizophthirus sp. were found in Slovenia. The developmental cycle of Ceratophyllus (Monopsyllus) sciurorum sciurorum is described