Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 36/1. (2016)
Zoology
Victoria NISTREANU, Vlad CALDARI, Alina LARION, Vlad POSTOLACHI Materials and methods The studies have been performed in the stone quarries near two localities from the northern part of the Republic of Moldova at the end of January, 2015. Stone quarries near Cupcini are situated at 47°4l.797 N, 28°57.857 E at the altitude of 142 m. There are several entries, of which 2 are abandoned and the rest active. Stone quarries near Hordine§ti are situated at 48°09.899° N, 27°08.968 E at the altitude of 166 m and have several entrances, of which 4 abandoned and the rest are active. Some parts of the mines were flooded. In both locations the entries are protected and the population has no access into the mines. The quarries are machine-made, spacious, reaching 2-5 meters high and 5-7 meters wide. Their layout is quite correct: long parallel tunnels of about 300 m connected with lateral passages. Walls and ceilings of tunnels have long parallel slots with the width of 7—10 cm and the depth of 5—20 cm. in some places the ceiling collapsed and there are many cracks and holes of various sizes. Temperature and humidity regime in both mines differ and vary depending on the distance from the entrance. Thus, in Cupcini mines the temperature and at 10 meters from the entrance was 7,4°C, the humidity — 44%; at 50 m from the entrance air temperature was 8,6°C, and the humidity — 52%. In Hordine^ti mines the temperature at 10 meters from the entrance was 6.8°C, the humidity of 62%; at 70 m air temperature was 10.2°C, humidity - 68%. Thus, the microclimate in the tunnels from Cupcini mines is less humid, and the difference between the air temperature at the entrance and deep in the passages is less pronounced. A total of 6 km of underground passages were investigated. Bats were studied directly by visual observations, all observed individuals were identified. Hibernation places were recorded, the distance from the entrance, crowding (single or in groups) of individuals, the number of individuals of each species were noted. Animals were not removed from the shelters, to not disturb the process of hibernation. Results and discussions During the study 461 individuals from 3 species (Myotis blytbii, M. daubentonii, M. mystacinus) have been registered in Cupcini quarries and 265 individuals from 5 species {Rhinolopbus hipposideros, M. blytbii, M. daubentonii, M. mystacinus, Plecotus austriacus, P. auritus) Fig. 1: Individuals of M. blythii found solitarily and in groups 78
