Search

The article provides information on the synanthropic rodent fauna of Eastern Transbaikalia. In 2017–2020 the city of Chita, the town of Baley and small settlements of Zabaykalsky krai were surveyed. True synanthropes: the house mouse and the brown rat are most abundant in residential landscapes. Natural populations of the house mouse are typical for coastal biotopes of the steppe zone, and the brown rat is typical for forest-steppe zone of Zabaykalsky krai. In Chita (administrative centre of Zabaykalsky krai) the share of the brown rat in rodent communities has considerably increased in recent decades. There is an extension of the brown rat’s habitat in the area of Baikal-Amur Mainline. Optional synanthropes: striped field mouse, striped dwarf hamster, Maximowicz’s vole, and narrow-headed vole are less important in residential landscapes of the region. In the beginning of the 21st century the field mouse is extending its habitat to the disjunct zone to the west of Transbaikalia: it is now common in the residential area of the town of Baley. Penetration of another optional synanthropic species recorded in the neighbouring Siberian regions – the East European vole – has not been detected.

The paper presents data on registration of two regionally protected insects in the north of Zabaykalsky krai. Observations were made in summer 2019-2021 in Kalarsky district of Zabaykalsky krai on the Ridges Udokan and Kodar. Parnassius eversmanni and Parnassius phoebus are characteristic and common species of high alpine meadows of the study area, especially at the Kodar Ridge between the Apsat and Sredny Sakukan Rivers. This area is not part of the Kodar National Park and requires attention for conservation of rich high altitude ecosystems that include the studied insect species.