Helmintofauna slepih miševa (Mammalia: Chiroptera) na području Srbije | Helminth fauna of bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) on the area of Serbia

The helminth fauna of 127 individuals of bats on the territory of Serbia was analyzed. The host samples consisted of 12 bat species: Greater Horseshoe Bat(Rhinolophus ferrumequinumSchreber, 1774); Whiskered Bat (Myotis mystacinusKuhl, 1817); Alcathoe Whiskered Bat (M. alcathoeHelversen & Heller, 2001); Brandt ’s Bat (M. brandtiiEversmann, 1845); Lesser Mouse-eared Bat (M. oxygnathusMonticelli, 1885); Greater Mouse-eared Bat (M. myotisBorkhausen, 1797); Savi ’ s Pipistrelle Bat (Hypsugo saviiBonaparte, 1837); Common Pipistrelle Bat (Pipistrellus pipistrellus Schreber, 1774); Nathusius ’ Pipistrelle Bat (P. BathusiiKeyserling & Blasius, 1839); Brown Long-eared Bat (Plecotus auritusLinnaeus, 1758); Grey Long-eared Bat (P. austriacusFischer, 1829) and Noctule Bat (Nyctalus noctulaSchreber, 1774). Host semples were collected from fifteen localities throughout Serbia: Deliblato sands, Zasavica, Valjevo, Belgrade, Paraćin, Đerdap, Bor, Beljanica, Kučevo, Boljevac, Zaječar, Zlot, Medveđa, Tara mountain and Ivanjica in the period between2001 and 2009. A total of 1642 helminth individuals (787 individuals of digeneans, 4 cestodes and 851 nematodes) were collected from the hosts, classified into 2 phylas, 1 subphyla, 3 classes, 3 subclasses, 1 superorder, 6 orders, 1 suborder, 7 superfamilies, 11 families, 9 subfamilies, 12 generas and 14 species. Fourteen parasite species were identified: Plagiorchis koreanus(Ogata, 1937), Mesotretes peregrinus(Braun, 1900), Lecithodendrium linstowi(Dollfus, 1931), Prosthodendrium longiforme(Bhalerao, 1926), P. chilostomum(Mehlis, 1831), P. parvouterus(Bhalerao, 1926), Milina grisea (van Beneden, 1873), Capillaria neopulchra(Babos, 1954), Molinostrongylus alatus (Ortlepp, 1932), Strongylacantha glycirrhiza(van Beneden, 1873), Physalopterasp., Litomosa ottavianii(Lagrange & Bettini, 1948), Rictularia bovieri(Blanchard, 1886) and Seuratum mucronatum(Rudolphi, 1809). The qualitative and quantitativeanalysis of the helminth fauna of bats were conducted in Serbia for the first time. Therefore all bat species can be considered new hosts for all recorded helminth species on the area of the country. Ninety-three (73.23%) individuals werefound to be infected with helminth parasites. The most numerous helminth species in total sample were P. koreanus, L. linstowiand M. alatus, which is also the most dominant. There is no evidence that the composition of helminth fauna depends on the sex ofthe host. However, some seasonal changes in quality and quantity of helminth community of the host are obvious.