UDC 599.4(477.61) LONG-EARED BATS OF PLECOTUS GENUS IN LUHANSK REGION

The bats fauna of Luhansk region is poorly studied. Plecotus auritus is the only species expected to be found on the East of Ukraine, according to last revision of variability and biogeography of this genus in Ukraine. The aim of this study was to expand the information about the brown long-eared bats in Luhansk region, to consider the prevalence, typical habitats and analyze morphometric peculiarities of the species. It was confirmed that for Luhansk region only one species of Plecotus genus is known: all specimens investigated were identified as P. auritus species by the morphological characteristics. In general, the investigated sample includes 35 specimens. The females are 2.7 % bigger than the males in terms of the morphometric characters. Further study defined the details of species’ distribution in the region; a cadastre of known records is ordered and includes 9 localities. Two colonies of P. auritus were found in the region: one of the natural and the other in anthropogenic landscape. All characteristics (age and sex structure, presence of colonies, different locations) indicate the presence of a stable local population of the Brown long-eared bats in Luhansk region.


INTRODUCTION
It is well-known that both P. auritus and P. austriacus are widely sympatric species in Ukraine [17]. The problem of heterogeneity of the eastern populations of long-eared bats was first addressed in the late 1980s [12]. However, in fact, it was only at the beginning of the 21 st century that genus Plecotus was described as two different species in Ukraine [15].
P. auritus is the species which was expected to be found on the East of Ukraine, according to the maps presented in the Guide for field investigations of bats in Ukraine [15] as well as last revision of variability and biogeography of this genus in Ukraine [17]. However, no data on long-eared bats in Luhansk region were available for a long time [1,9]. It is possible to explain by the general low level of bat research efforts and (or) the natural scarcity of these bats. The first mention of Plecotus genus for the region was given without species identification in 1973 [6]. The first case of reliable identification of Plecotus in Luhansk region concerns two specimens of P. auritus, captured with mistnets in the vicinity of Luhansk in 2008 [18].
The aim of the research is to investigate the occurence of the genus Plecotus in Lugansk region and to characterize the features of long-eared bats here.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The data were obtained due to: 1) analysing catalogues of zoological museums of Ukraine [14] and specimens preserved in the collection of the Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Biogeography (LAEB, Luhansk National University) [8]; 2) calls from public about found bats to the contact-centre kept in Luhansk (in borders of the initiative of the Ukrainian Centre for Bat Protection); 3) personal communications of colleagues; 4) field research of bats (vil. Verhniobohdanivka, vil. Ivanivka, suburb of Luhansk city). For capturing bats we used mistnets of 9 and 12 meters. The research was carried out in 2012-2014. The material was identified by Key to the Bats of Europe [3]. The standard measurements (length of forearm) were conducted. The material was studied in vivo. All photos in this work from the Luhansk region.

THE SPECIFIC IDENTIFICATION AND VARIABILITY
In total, 35 long-eared bats from 4 localities were contactly examined. The color of fur and tragus, morphology of protuberance above eyes, the thumb length, and morphology of glans penis in males unequivocally indicate that the examined specimens belong to the species of P. auritus sensu stricto. In particular, the color of fur on the back is brown, and the belly has a distinct yellow tinge. The length of the thumb was 6 mm or more, and the tops of the tragus were light. The protuberances above the eyes were larger than the eyes themselves ( Fig. 1, A). The glans penis was narrow in all the studied males (n = 14) (Fig. 1, B). The variation of forearm length (Ra) was also studied. The data is summarized in Table 1. The variation is very small, and coefficient of variation for this character in the combined sample (both sexes) is just 2.69 %, and within each of the sexes it amounts to even less: 2.34 % for the males and 2.33 % for the females. The comparison of the distribution for values of Ra in males and females is shown in Fig. 2. By forearm length, examined males are smaller than females for 2.7 %. The difference between the values for males and females is significant (T st = 3.55; P < 0.01; U = 55.5; P <0.01). Additionally, on one other occasion 7 other specimens in loc. Verkhniobohdanivka (5/4/2014) were captured but their dimensions were not included in the graph due to possibility that these specimens had been captured and measured before. Plecotus auritus from the Luhansk region is characterized by similar forearm length with P. auritus from other regions (Table 2). However, the brown long-eared bats from Luhansk region are smaller than P. auritus from most other regions, especially in comparison with the sample from the Balkans (Croatia) and Asia Minor (Turkey) (for 0.3-0.5 mm).   Comment: * First row includes the average value, second row includes the limits.

CONCLUSIONS
1. The list of records of long-eared bats in Luhansk region includes 9 localities. In five of them long-eared bats were contactly examined and identified to species (n = 42+3). All of them were identified as Plecotus auritus. 2. Males of P. auritus in the investigated sample are smaller than females by 2.7 %.