The first data on bat ectoparasites (Acarina, Insecta) in the Baikal region and Yakutia (eastern Siberia)

: This paper summarizes new data on ectoparasites from bats (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from eastern Siberia (Russia). The existence of 14 bat ectoparasite species is confirmed for this territory, including eight species of gamasid mites (Gamasina: Spinturnicidae, Macronyssidae) and six species of insects belonging to two orders (Insecta: Diptera, Siphonaptera). The bed-bugs (Insecta: Heteroptera: Cimicidae) found are unde-fined. These findings include six species (one species of gamasid mites and five species of insects) not previously reported from eastern Siberia. New hosts are described for some ectoparasites.

Currently, the biology of Eastern Palaearctic boreal bats is the subject of intensive investigation.Several cryptic bat species (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) have been described in the Siberian and Far East territories using modern molecular genetic methods: Myotis petax Hollister, 1912, Myotis sibiricus (Kastschenko, 1905), Plecotus ognevi (Kishida, 1927) and others (Benda and Tsytsulina 2000;Matveev et al. 2005;Spitzenberger et al. 2006).The ecology of these species -including their host-parasite relationships -still needs to be investigated.Current data on Siberian arthropods parasitizing bats are both extremely limited and require revision because the taxonomic status of their hosts has changed.In fact, we still have no information about bat ectoparasites over an approximately 2 million km 2 area (see Figure 1).
Bats were collected in the boreal zone of the Baikal region and the Yakutia (Sakha Republic) (Figure 1) during the summers of 2014 and 2015.Captures were conducted during twilight and night-time hours using mist nets (Kunz and Kurta 1988) and Borisenko mobile traps (Borisenko 1999) in forest plots and open spaces (Figure 2).After examination, all animals were released or returned to their nursery roosts.A total of 52 individual bats belonging to five species of the family Vespertilionidae (Eastern Water Bat, Myotis petax; Siberian Bat, Myotis sibiricus; Ikonnikov's Bat Myotis ikonnikovi (Ognev, 1912); Northern Bat, Eptesicus nilssonii (Keyserling & Blasius, 1839); and Ognev's Longeared Bat, Plecotus ognevi) were examined.
Ectoparasites were removed with a preparatory needle and forceps and fixed in 70% ethanol.Fleas and mites were mounted on permanent slides with Faure-Berlese's mounting medium (flea specimens were previously dipped into 5% KOH and washed in distilled water), bat flies were stored in 70% alcohol (Whitaker 1988).Ectoparasite species were identified using light microscopy according to several identification keys and articles (Medvedev 1985;Stanyukovich 1997;Lehr 1999).
Investigated territory.The map was taken from Wikimedia Commons (2015).Bats were caught in the Eastern Siberian territory in the following localities: 1. Baikal region (sites 1-3; Figure 1): a. Buryatia Republic, Kaban district, the foothills of the   In total, our material represents 637 specimens of 12 mites and insect species.Of these, 7 species of gamasid mites belong to the families Spinturnicidae (3) and Macronyssidae (4), and 5 species of insects belong to the orders Siphonaptera (fam.Ischnopsyllidae) (2) and Diptera (fam.Nycteribiidae) (3).An annotated species list of Eastern Siberian bat ectoparasites is presented below.
This extremely poorly studied species is included in the Siberian-Far East faunal complex.Only two earlier findings are known: in the Primorie Territory (Ussurian Reserve) from an unidentified host (Stanyukovich 1995) and in the Tuva Republic from the Eastern Water Bat (Orlova et al. 2015b).The species has been confirmed on M. ikonnikovi and M. sibiricus for the first time.It is likely that S. bregetovae associated with bats of the genus Myotis Kaup, 1829.
Taxonomic remark: Females of S. myoti are characterized by 90 dorsal opisthosomal setae and a pear-shaped sternal shield (Rudnick 1960;Stanyukovich 1997).Males of S. myoti have a sternogenital shield with four setal pairs and a small rounded tritosternum.(Koch, 1839) Material: Baikal region: 2 ♂ from P. ognevi.This is an oligoxenous species with a trans-Palaearctic range.Bats of the genus Plecotus Grey, 1821 are the principal hosts, but they can also be found on other vespertilionid bats (Rudnick 1960;Stanyukovich 1990;Stanyukovich 1997).

Spinturnix plecotinus
Taxonomic remark: Females have 14 or fewer setae at the end of the opisthosoma and lanceolate setae on the dorsal tips of tarsi II-IV.Males have two setae at the end of the opisthosoma, lanceolate setae on the dorsal tips of tarsi II-IV are present.
Taxonomic remark: Species belonging to the genus Macronyssus differ from each other in the chaetotaxy of the dorsal shield and the pattern of the sternal glands (anterolateral sculpturing).The sternal glands of M. charusnurensis are with striae and cross-pieces in the oval zone (Figures 3 E and F).Males have 10 thick and long setal pairs on the opisthosoma with a hollow.(Ewing & Stover, 1915) Material: Baikal region: 3 ♀ (all with internal eggs) from P. ognevi; Yakutia: 5 ♂, 1 ♀ with internal egg, 13 N1 from M. sibiricus.
Taxonomic remark: Females have a sternal plate with distinct anterolateral sculpturing consisting of 3 or 4 cells and indistinct striae.Males have thick setae Z5 (like claw) on the dorsal shield, and the opisthosomal setae on the unarmed integument are very long (100-120 μm).(Uchikawa, 1979) Material: Baikal region: 1 ♀ from M. petax.This is a rare and insufficiently studied Siberian-Far East species (Uchikawa 1979;Medvedev et al. 1991;Orlova et al. 2015b).Findings are scarce.Most likely, this is an oligoxenous species, parasitizing bats of the genus Myotis.

Macronyssus hosonoi
Taxonomic remark: Females of M. hosonoi are characterized by the unique form of the dorsal shield, which is without the narrow of the posterior margin inherent to all other Macronyssus species.The sternal shield of females is crescent-shaped without anterolateral sculpturing.
Taxonomic remark: In males sternit V has a row of 8-10 short spines.Claspers are straight, basally curved; the aedeagus is long and narrow, strongly curved at the top and sharpened (Figure 3H).Sternit 6 in females is divided into two sclerites.The genital plate has an irregular form, with 6 or 7 setae.There is a large anal sclerite in females (Lehr 1999).
Taxonomic remark: B. rybini belongs to the nattererigroup, but clearly differs from other species in the form of the female genital plate, which is horseshoe-shaped, and in the form of the male genitalia (the parameres are bifurcate, the upper lobe larger and is bearing three setae) (Hurka 1969).
Taxonomic remark: Both males and females of P. mono ceros have a notable hornlike projection on their heads.The ventral genital plate of females is narrow and curved, the dorsal genital plate is triangular, with 5 or 6 setae.In males, sternit V has two large lateral projections; the parameres are clearly longer than the aedeagus (Lehr 1999).
Taxonomic remark: M. trisellis has false combs of the thickened bristles in the dorsal area of abdominal terga I-III (Fig. 3G).Sternit VIII of males without bundles of long hair-like bristles on the inner side (Hopkins and Rothschild 1956).(Wagner, 1898) The only published records (Zhovtiy et al. 1962) are from the Baikal region (near the village of Kaylastuya, Borzinsky district, Chita region).These were recorded in September 1958 from the Asian Particoloured Bat, Vespertilio sinensis (Peters, 1880).This is a widely distributed trans-Palaearctic boreal species (Medvedev 1996).According to Medvedev (1989) and Rupp et al. (2004) the principal host of I. obscurus is the Particoloured Bat.

Ischnopsyllus (Ischnopsyllus) obscurus
Taxonomic remark: I. obscurus has eight combs on the thorax and abdomen.The comb of metanotum is composed of more than 40 spines.Bristles of sternum VIII are not conspicuously long (Hopkins and Rothschild 1956).
Taxonomic remark: I. hexactenus has six combs on the thorax and abdomen.Males have large bristles at the apex of the movable process of the clasper; the apex of sternit VIII is broadened gradually (Hopkins and Rothschild 1956).
Few data exist in the literature on bat ectoparasites of the Baikal region, and no data exist on bat ectoparasites of the Yakutia.A short communication from Zhovtiy et. al. (1962) is devoted to the discovery of gamasid mites, bat flies and bat fleas in the Transbaikalian forest-steppe.However, the taxonomic status of some bat hosts and their ectoparasites has been changed recently.In particular, it has been determined that the Whiskered Bat, Myotis mystacinus (Kuhl, 1817), does not inhabit the study area, and the species to which the bats formerly classified as M. mystacinus by Zhovtiy et al. (1962) belong is unknown.Moreover, the classifications of the gamasid mite species Spinturnix vespertilionis and Ichoronyssus flavus mentioned in the article are no longer valid at present, and the species status of representatives of the genus Cimex in the eastern Palaearctic requires clarification.Actually, according to Zhovtiy et. al. (1962), only two species of parasitic arthropods associated with bats have been unambiguously confirmed in the Baikal region: the gamasid mite Steatonyssus superans (Zemskaja, 1951) and the flea Ischnopsyllus obscurus (Wagner, 1898) (Table 1).
The gamasid mite Ornithonyssus pipistrelli, bat flies Nyc teribia quasiocellata, Basilia rybini, and Penicillidia mono ceros, and the flea Myodopsylla trisellis were confirmed in eastern Siberia for the first time.These ectoparasite species belong to the Siberian-Far East and trans-Palaearctic (Holarctic) fauna complexes.It difficult discuss prior findings of Spinturnix bregetovae, S. myoti, S. plecotinus, Macronyssus charusnurensis, M. crosbyi, and M. hosonoi because it is impossible to determine what species were collected.These were identified by the authors as Spin turnix vespertilionis and Ichoronyssus flavus, which are currently invalid species.
In general, the ectoparasite species composition of the studied area is largely similar to that of western Siberia and the Far East (Table 1), which confirms the conservatism of eastern Palaearctic boreal bat ectoparasite fauna throughout the huge territory from the Yenisey River to the Pacific coast.

AcKNOwLEDgEMENTS
We are grateful to V.V. Chepinoga, E.V. Sofronova for their help in the fieldwork and to M. Yu.Romanov for the picture processing.This study was supported through the project number 6.657.2014/k"Biotic ecosystem component, properties, resource potential and dynamics in a transforming environment of Western Siberia", Russian Program for Competitiveness Enhancement of Leading Russian Universities among Global Research and Education Centers (Project 5-100) and partially through the project number 0376-2014-0001, subject 51.1.4."The animal population of the arctic and continental Yakutia: the diversity of species, populations and communities (for example, lower reaches and deltas of the Lena river, tundra of Yana -Indigirka -Kolyma interfluve, basin of the Middle Lena and the Aldan rivers)."

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Habitat for bats in Eastern Siberia.A) Mountain forests.B) River banks.C) Wood lakes.D) Remains of buildings.Photos by D.V. Kazakov (A-C) and E.S. Zakharov (D).

Table 1 .
The findings of specific ectoparasites of bats from Eastern Siberia.

species Baikal region Yakutia Published records Transbaikalian forest steppe zone (Zhovtiy et al. 1962) Western Siberia (Orlova et al. 2015a, 2015b) Far East (Medvedev et al. 1991) Arachnida Acarina Gamasina Spinturnicidae
* This may be the first record of this species in the studied territory.?Accurate interpretation of the literature data is impossible because of the changed taxonomic status of the parasite.