Vol 104, No 5 (2025)

Morphological structures of the byssal apparatus, byssal threads and byssal groove of the foot of the commercial Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) from the Sea of Japan are studied. The byssal apparatus is shown to consist of a root, a stem and the byssal threads, these being of ellipsoid shape in cross-section. Each byssal thread consists of a corrugated, wide proximal part located immediately behind a cuff and is ⅓ of its length, and a relatively elastic, narrow distal part (⅔ of thread length) ending with an oval attachment disk at the distal end. In the composition of each byssal thread in its different parts are contained the byssal prepolymerized collagens – P, D, NG, which have the different in nature block copolymer structure. The surface of byssal threads is tuberous all along. On the surface of the attachment disk, two reinforcing cords are present. The edges of the attachment disks are semitransparent. The byssal groove of the foot is more primitive in structure than in the other species of mytilids studied. It is noteworthy that a distal fossa is absent at the distal end of the byssal groove of the foot. The above features of the morphological structure of the byssus and attachment disks in M. galloprovincialis are explained by structural differences of the secretory organ.

The present study is based on the oribatid mite material collected from the Amhara Region, сentral Ethiopia. A list of 40 species belonging to 28 genera and 19 families is presented. One new species – Suctobelbella (Suctobelbella) shewaensis Ermilov sp. n. (Suctobelbidae) – is described from litter under Juniperus procera trees. An identification key to the known species of the subgenus from the Afrotropical Region is given.

Two new species of rove beetles are described: Thinodromus (s. str.) temburongensis sp. n. from Brunei, Borneo and Thinodromus (s. str.) davaoensis sp. n. from Mindanao, Philippines. Based on the structure of the abdominal tergites, both new species belong to the “Apocellagria” group. At present, this group includes 13 species, 4 of which live in Tropical Africa, and 9 are known from the Oriental Biogeographic Region. No “Apocellagria” have so far been known from Borneo and the Philippines.

The Western Taiga Bean Goose subpopulation wintering in Europe has been shown to decline in the recent decades. At the same time, the population dynamics of most migratory birds largely depend on the quality of migratory stopover sites necessary to replenish energetic reserves. The migration ecology of the Western Taiga Bean Goose has been insufficiently well studied, being known: only in general terms, but the timing of migration, the places of many key stopovers in Russia have not described. Neither information on their conservation status nor the intensity and duration of their use by birds are available. Without this knowledge, no effective protection of any migrating population is possible to organize. We analyzed the dynamics and phenology of migrations, as well as the conservation status of stopover and pre-migration sites of the Western Taiga Bean Goose nesting in the forest zone of Western and Central Siberia and wintering in northern Germany and Poland, based on GPS-tracking. We used data from 45 completed spring migrations from 25 tagged birds and 36 completed autumn migrations from 20 birds over the period of 2019–2023. Only 15.3% stopovers are covered by the existing network of protected areas, where the geese spend only 19.2% time. The results of the study can be used to develop an effective strategy for the conservation during the period of migration. We propose a hunting ban and/or the creation of protected areas within the main key stopover sites.

Recovery of a local population of the Common vole (Microtus arvalis arvalis) after a nine-year absence from the area of a research station near the village of Bakanovo, Staritsky District, Tver Region, Russia is described. The species identity before the depression and after the restoration was established based on karyotype studies. The absence of the species from 2011 to 2019 was confirmed by data from long-term (>10 days) annual capture-mark-recapture sessions: with a maximum interval between the captures of resident voles (m + 3SD) of 2.8 + 3.0 days, the animals could be detected with 99% probability within six days. Additional surveys of the territory showed the absence of this species from the immediate (about 1 km) vicinity as well. The population restoration began in areas whence no voles had previously been found as residents; in all cases, adult females were among the first immigrants. Apparently, we observed both local extinction and subsequent recolonization of the territory. A quantitative predominance of females was observed in the population as a whole, both before and after the depression. During the recolonization, a higher proportion of adults, including females, was revealed compared to that in the local population before the extinction of common voles.

This article is the third one in the publication set where we proof the methods of usage bird ring-recovery data for definition of the population parameters of separate species, demographic statuses of their populations and calculation of the rational harvest rates in the huntable bird species. For the enlarging of usage of the ring-recovery data for the rational (sustainable) use of the waterfowl resources, we propose new method of calculation of the hunting bag size. As huntable objects it is possible to use those species only which do not included into different level of Red Data Books and those ones where the species’ demographic status allows hunting. The proposed calculation way includes data on annual mortality rate of different waterfowl species and age cohorts, obtained from ring-recovery data together with the information on the total species’ numbers taken from surveys and expert assessments. In addition, ring-recovery data allow calculation waterfowl hunting bag size for separate regions of Russia for the birds that winter in Europe and breed in the northern parts of European Russia and Western Siberia. Proposed method directed to make the hunting bag calculation be more rational instead of normally used arbitrary and generally intuitive approach to this very important problem.

This report is the first to provide information on the discovery of a female moose with an anomalous antler. The female moose with an anomalous single horn was captured in Yakutia on the Lena-Vilyuyskiy interfluve in the upper reaches of the Namana River (left tributary of the Lena) on 29 September 2024. The age of the female corresponds to a two-year old individual. An anomalous horn about 15 cm long in the female was formed on the right side of the head from the apophyses of the frontal bones. The horn is covered with thin velvety skin with short wool and it looks like the growing horns (antlers) of young moose in the phase of their spring-summer development. However, unlike young antlers with a non-horned soft structure, this anomalous antler was ossified.