Plamen G. Mitov

Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" · Department of Zoology and Antropology

The Balkan region is rich in limestone deposits, which have created one of the largest hotspots of subterranean biodiversity. This paper gives an overview of the diversity of subterranean terrestrial arthropods in Resava Cave in eastern Serbia. This cave is protected and has the status of a natural monument. At the same time, it is one of the most...

A new family of Cyphophthalmi with disjunct Mediterranean distribution, Parasironidae fam. nov., is proposed. The new family comprises four genera and seven species. Cimmerosiro gen. nov., Tirrenosiro gen. nov. and Ebrosiro gen. nov. are described as new genera, and Tirrenosiro axeli gen. et sp. nov., Cimmerosiro krivolutskyi gen. et sp. nov., C. j...

The euryhaline crab Eurypanopeus depressus, native to the western Atlantic, has been found in 2009-2018 along the Romanian and Bulgarian Black Sea coast (from Constanţa to Sozopol). During recent investigations (2021-2022), this alien crab species was also found at the southernmost Bulgarian Black Sea coast, just off the maritime border between Bul...

Previous and newly obtained data on the distribution of Eobania vermiculata (O. F. Müller, 1774) from Bulgaria are summarised. New localities and new regions of distribution in the country are reported. Photos of live animals, its habitats and the reproductive system of the species are given. Hypothesis for dual origin of specimens in Bulgarian pop...

Six species of harvestman (Arachnida: Opiliones) are documented from the Eocene Rovno amber in Ukraine. From the suborder Eupnoi we record Caddo dentipalpus (C. L. Koch & Berendt, 1854) (Caddidae), Amilenus deltshevi Dunlop & Mitov, 2009 (Phalangiidae) and Dicranopalpus ramiger (C. L. Koch & Berendt, 1854) (family incertae sedis). To these we add a...

The first pedipalpal regeneration observed in a fossil harvestman (Arachnida: Opiliones) is documented in a specimen of Dicranopalpus ramiger (Koch & Berendt, 1854) from Eocene Baltic amber (ca. 44–49 Ma). The tibia of the right pedipalp is strongly truncated and shorter than the adjacent patella and its apophysis. Possible reasons for this aberrat...

Egaenus marenzelleri Nosek, 1905 is redescribed and transferred to the genus Graecophalangium Roewer, 1923 as Graecophalangium marenzelleri, comb. n. This species is also the first representative of its genus for the Turkish fauna. Male external and genital morphology of this species is illustrated for the first time.

Feather mites (Astigmata: Pterolichoidea, Analgoidea) are permanent ectosymbionts of birds, found from all avian orders except Rheiformes (Stefan et al. 2015). The feather mites’ spatial distribution on the plumage depends on the morphology and structure of the feathers, aerodynamic and frictional forces, the life cycle and social behavior of the h...

Antarctic marine organisms are characterised by a significant level of endemism. This is due to geological, climatological and oceanographic reasons, such as the break-up of Antarctida from Gondwana during the Cretaceous; the formation of a circumpolar current; the extremely low water temperatures (close to freezing); the short summer seasons. The...

The first records of the alien decapod Eurypanopeus depressus (Smith, 1869) (flatback mud crab) along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast are reported. This species has been recorded at 16 out of 32 studied sample sites, in both northern and southern parts of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. Additional morphological, biological and ecological observations...

The giant springtail Tetrodontophora bielanensis (Waga, 1842) has been collected from the Ruy Mountain, West Bulgaria. The present record is the first for this species from Bulgaria. The species is illustrated and for the first time morphological abnormalities in this genus are described. Zoogeographical notes and comments on the conservation statu...

Tsibar Island is situated in the Bulgarian part of the Danube River, at 680 m of the Bulgarian and about 100 of the Romanian coast from 716 to 719 km along the river, with an area of 1.3 km². The territory is covered mainly by riparian woodland. Because of its European importance to the protection of rare and threatened habitats, plants and animals...

The paper presents the first contribution to the study of the centipedes and millipedes of the city of Plovdiv. A total of 20 species (8 chilopods and 12 diplopods) belonging to 16 genera, 11 families, and 8 orders are recorded from the city. All but one species, Megaphyllum unilineatum (C.L. Koch, 1838), are new to the city. Until now the myriapod...

Cave animals live under highly constant ecological conditions and in permanent darkness, and many evolutionary adaptations of cave-dwellers have been triggered by their specific environment. A similar “cave effect” leading to pronounced chemical interactions under such conditions may be assumed, but the chemoecology of troglobionts is mostly unknow...

The digital edition is part of a joint project for a print and digital edition of the Red Data Book of the Republic of Bulgaria. It includes the full information from the print edition (vol 1 Plants and Fungi, vol 2 Animals, vol 3 Natural habitats), enriched with videos, extended photo gallery, higher-resolution drawings, distribution maps with rel...

The present paper contains new chorological data on Myosotella myosotis from the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, as well as some conchiological (variation in shell size and in the number of apertural folds and denticles), biological, and ecological notes on this ellobiid gastropod from Bulgaria, with brief comments on its conservation status.

The chiton species Acanthochitona crinita (Pennant, 1777) is newly recorded from the Bulgarian sector of the Black Sea and is redescribed. New morphological, ecological, and chorological data about the Acanthochitona crinita populations from the Black Sea are provided. The differences between Acanthochitona crinita and A. fascicularis (Linnaeus, 17...

We report results of field studies on the protected gastropods Vertigo (Vertilla) angustior Jeffreys, 1830 and Vertigo (Vertigo) moulinsiana (Dupuy, 1849) from Natura 2000 sites of community interest (SCI) in Bulgaria. The samples were collected during the field seasons in 2011 and 2012. Deductive models of habitats made using GIS tools were used f...

In Bulgaria the basidiomycete Clathrus ruber is known generally from the Black Sea coastal region and has been sporadically recorded in Sofia city, Vitosha Mt and Rodopi Mts. In the last edition of the Red List of fungi in Bulgaria it has been declared as “near threatened”. The paper provides data on three new localities of the species in south-wes...

In Bulgaria the basidiomycete Clathrus ruber is known generally from the Black Sea coastal region and has been sporadically recorded in Sofia city, Vitosha Mt and Rodopi Mts. In the last edition of the Red List of fungi in Bulgaria it has been declared as “near threatened”. The paper provides data on three new localities of the species in south-wes...

A new specimen of Lacinius Thorell, 1876; (Opiliones: Phalangiidae) from Eocene Baltic amber is described. We interpret it as conspecific with a slightly younger record from the German Bitterfeld amber, originally referred to as the extant species L. erinaceus Staręga, 1966. Our new specimen reveals pedipalpal apophyses on both the patella and the...

The first record of tentacle abnormality (bifurcation) in the marine snail Bittium reticulatum found in Varna Bay (Bulgaria), Black Sea, is reported.

The carnivorous semislug Testacella (Testacella) haliotidea Draparnaud, 1801, is recorded for the first time in Bulgaria from the northern Bulgarian Black Sea coast, close to the city of Varna. This species belongs to a genus and family newly reported for the Bulgarian fauna; in addition, this site is a new locality, as well as the easternmost reco...

A new harvestman (Arachnida: Opiliones) from Baltic amber (Palaeogene: Eocene; ca. 44–49 Ma) is described as Piankhi steineri n. gen., n. sp. This enigmatic fossil expresses long, slender pedipalps without a tarsal claw, which is characteristic for the suborder Dyspnoi. The chelicerae are notably enlarged and the dorsal body surface is formed from...

A new harvestman (Arachnida: Opiliones) from Baltic amber (Palaeogene: Eocene; ca. 44–49 Ma) is described as Piankhi steineri n. gen., n. sp. This enigmatic fossil expresses long, slender pedipalps without a tarsal claw, which is characteristic for the suborder Dyspnoi. The chelicerae are notably enlarged and the dorsal body surface is formed from...

A new, eyeless species of harvestman, Paranemastoma beroni, collected from the Stoykova Dupka 1 Cave in the Slavyanka Mountains (south-western Bulgaria) is described and illustrated. A character combination of the form of the penis, the form of the pedipalps and absence of scutum armament, distinguish the new species from all other Paranemastoma sp...

The first fossil cyphophthalmid harvestman (Opiliones: Cyphophthalmi) from Palaeogene (Eocene) Baltic amber is described. This is only the third fossil example of this basal harvestman lineage; the others being from the probably slightly younger Bitterfeld amber and the much older, early Cretaceous, Myanmar (Burmese) amber. Although incomplete and...

Fossil harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones: Dyspnoi and Eupnoi) are described from Bitterfeld amber, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany deposited in the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin. The exact age of this amber has been in dispute, but recent work suggests it is youngest Palaeogene (Oligocene: Chattian). Histricostoma tuberculatum (Koch & Berendt, 1854), Caddo...

The harvestman fauna was studied along an altitudinal gradient on the southern slope of Lefka Ori Mountains, Crete, Greece for one year. Four sampling areas were defined at 800, 1200, 1600, and 2000 m elevation and they were sampled with pitfall traps that were emptied at monthly intervals. In total, six species were collected: Histricostoma cretic...

In the region of South Dobrudzha (Bulgaria), 50 species of feather mites belonging to 12 genera and 5 families of the superfamily Analgoidea were found. They were collected from 47 species of birds of the order Passeriformes. Twenty eight species of the feather mites are new for the Bulgarian fauna. Seventeen species of passeriform birds are report...

The spatial niche breadths of 23 opilionid species (Paranemastoma radewi, P. aurigerum ryla, Pyza bosnica, Carinostoma ornatum, Mitostoma chrysomelas, Trogulus tricarinatus, T. closanicus, Phalangium opilio, Opilio parietinus, O. saxatilis, O. dinaricus, O. ruzickai, Rilaena balcanica, R. cf. serbica, Lophopilio palpinalis, Zachaeus crista, Z. anat...

The opilionid fauna of Dobrudzha is not well studied, and Northern and Southern Dobrudzha have not been studied equally. For example, only 15 species have been reported from Northern Dobrudzha, while from Southern Dobrudzha they are three times less. As a result of this study and the summarized data from literature, 17 harvestmen species (about 28%...

The present study is based on a large-scale sampling program carried out in the area of Vitosha Mountain (Bulgaria). The ecological profiles of the Opiliones inhabiting the investigated area are modelled by a mixed approach, using Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) over a Multiple Correspon- dence Analysis (MCA, performed on the sites by environmen...

The work summarizes the data on the harvestmen-fauna of the Eastern Rhodopes Mountains, a relatively poorly known territory of Bulgaria. The faunistic list includes 24 species altogether (from 18 genera and 5 families), or roughly 45% of the opilionid species recorded so far from Bulgaria. Eleven species are new to the fauna of the Eastern Rhodopes...

ABSTRACT This is the first paper dealing with the opilionid fauna of urban park-areas (located in the city of Sofia) in Bulgaria. In addition, the harvestmen fauna of the regions surrounding the city of Sofia is summarized. The faunistic list presents data on the 32 species hitherto found in the covered area. Two of them (Trogulus closanicus and Ri...

New records of nematode parasitism of harvestmen (Opiliones: Arachnida) are reported and a list of all published records of nematode parasitism of these arachnids is presented. Nomenclatorial problems of early mermithid citations are discussed and the possible type of life cycle (indirect) is considered in light of what appears to be a type of beha...

MITOV P.: Contribution to the knowledge of the harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones) of Albania. In GAJDOŠ P., PEKÁR S. (eds): Proceedings of the 18th European Colloquium of Arachnology, Stará Lesná, 1999. Ekológia (Bratislava), Vol. 19, Supplement 3/2000, p. 159-169. The opilionid fauna of Albania is still poorly known. In the entire literature on thi...