Bechstein ’ s bat Myotis bechsteinii ( Kuhl , 1817 ) in Southwestern Balkans : First record for Montenegro and additional data for Albania

1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tirana, Tirana 1001, Albania. E-mail: p.theou@gmail.com (corresponding author) 2 Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA), P.16/1/10, Rruga Vangjush Furxhi, Tirana 1001, Albania 3 Public Enterprise of National Parks in Montenegro, Trg Vojvode Bećir bega Osmanagića 16, 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro. E-mail:marinadjurovic@nparkovi.me

Bechstein's bat Myotis bechsteinii (Kuhl, 1817) is classified as Near Threatened species in the Mediterranean area (Hutson et al., 2010), with a decreasing population trend.It is a target species for several national and international regulations (Bern convention, Habitat directive) in Europe.The population trend of the species on the continent is considered as unclear (Haysom et al. 2013), but it is established that important differences in populations size exists among different European regions.Although a wealth of data is available for several western European countries as in France (Vincent 2014), Italy (Agnelli et al. 2006) or Germany (Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, 2014), scarce information is available for the Balkans, with the exception of Bulgaria (Petrov 2006).M. bechsteinii is known to occur in Slovenia (Presetnik 2010), Croatia (Pavlinić, 2010), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mulaomerović 2009), Serbia (Karapandža & Paunović 2010), and Albania (Uhrin et al. 1996), but records always refer to few specimens and source locations.The bat is neither mentioned in the first detailed review of the distribution of bats in Montenegro (Presetnik et al. 2014), nor in the latest comprehensive article published on the bat fauna of Macedonia (Micevski et al. 2014).
In January and February 2015, we carried out the first ever winter census of bats for both sides of Skadar lake, in Albania and Montenegro.Caves and buildings were thoroughly investigated in order to identify possible hibernacula.Care was taken to minimize disturbance.Bats or signs of their presence were recorded and colonies were quickly photographed in order to assess their size from pictures.On 31 st January 2015 a single hibernating specimen of M. bechsteinii (Fig. 1) was observed in Montenegro, in the Grbočica cave, between villages of Komarno and Trnovo, near Virpazar (UTM square 10 *10 km: CM 38, alt.400 m).
Due to this discovery, the bat fauna of Montenegro is now composed of 29 species according Presetnik et al. (2014).Although M. bechsteinii had been already mentioned for the country (Paunović et al. 2004), it was later clarified that citation was erroneous since it relied upon a mislabelled location of a specimen preserved in the Natural History Museum in Belgrade, Serbia (Paunović et al. 2010).This species was expected to be found in the country (Presetnik et al. 2014) but more in the most important forest areas, localized in northeastern Montenegro.Several nights of mist-netting were organized during the spring and summer of 2014 in these areas, but no specimen of this species were caught.The ecosystems around Skadar lake appears to be suitable for the species, as they are composed of shrubs and forests on limestone formations, with older hollow trees that are usually optimal roosts for M. bechsteinii (Kerth et al. 2001) and woodland patches which are the main feeding habitats for this species (Dietz et al. 2009).And as this data is underlining, numerous underground roosts that can occasionally be used during the year.Concerning the Grbočica cave, seven species were identified in total during the winter census, which confirms that this cave is a very important hibernacula in the area (Đurović 2011).This cave has been targetted by several surveys during spring, summer and fall in the past, with use of mist-nets, bat-detectors and direct observation, but it is the first time that this species is recorded (Bataković 2013), underlining the importance of year-round monitoring, including winter period, in order to have a better knowledge on the bat fauna using the area.In the spring and summer of 2014, we also surveyed the south of Albania near the Vjosa river, one of the last wild rivers in Europe, for the presence of bat nursery roosts.We focused on caves as well as former military buildings.
Between June and July 2014, two new observations of M. bechsteinii were recorded near the Vjosa river.One refers to a cave situated near the village of Mezhgoran (UTM square 10*10: CM DK 26, alt.200 m), where a cluster numbering 16 bats was observed on the 14 th June 2014 (Fig. 2).
The other observation refers to the canyon of Lengarica near the village of Benjë, (UTM square 10*10 km: DK 55, alt.350 m) which is directly connected to the Vjosa river.In that case we spotted two males on 19 th July 2014, alive but resting on the surface of rocks at shining daylight in the canyon.
All these data represent the only records available in Albania since 1995, and increases the number of known locations from one to three in total (Uhrin et al., 1996).The number of data is unfortunately far too low to make any inference on the population status of this species.However, it seems clear that the woody banks of rivers of southern Albania represents important habitats for this species, as all the data available until now have been collected in locations situated at distance of max.20m from a river bank.This underlines the importance of these unique ecosystems which represents the last wild rivers in Europe (Beqiraj et al. 2008), and point-out the need for future development measures for their protection and conservation.
The conservation status of M. bechsteinii in the southwestern Balkans is still data deficient.More studies on this species, especially focusing on forests as their optimal habitats, are needed to obtain sufficient information helping to implement conservation actions.The application of Habitats Directive to these two countries and the follow up of mutual surveys and cooperation in the area of nature conservation, will offer a great opportunity to reach this objective.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Cluster of M. bechsteinii found near the village of Mezhgoran, Albania.