Golden jackal (Canis aureus L., 1758) – a new species in the theriofauna of Belarus

  • Vasilij V. Grichik Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6274-0165
  • Vadzim V. Prakapchuk National Park «Belovezhskaya Pushcha», agro-town Kamenyuki 225063, district Kamenets, Brest region, Belarus https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9602-3423
  • Alexandra E. Grebenchuk Scientific and Practical Center, State Forensic Examination Committee of the Republic of Belarus, 25 Filimonava Street, Minsk 220114, Belarus https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1224-3275
  • Alina A. Rabtsava State Forensic Examination Committee of the Republic of Belarus, 43 Kal’varijskaja Street, Minsk 220073, Belarus https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5550-9873
  • Iosif S. Tsybovsky Scientific and Practical Center, State Forensic Examination Committee of the Republic of Belarus, 25 Filimonava Street, Minsk 220114, Belarus https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8611-8215

Abstract

Continuing in Europe, the settlement of the golden jackal (Canis aureus) over the last decade has covered the territory of the Republic of Belarus. The article has 6 reliable facts this species registration in 2011–2018 in the southern and south-western parts of the country, north to the line Kobrin – Soligorsk – Bobruisk. In 2 cases, the animals were spotted visually or by voice, in the remaining 4 – shot by hunters. Species identification of the three individuals are confirmed by photographs and molecular-genetic studies, the skull and skin are collected from the other one. The photos and measurements of the skull (from an adult male) are presented, the phenotype features of adults in the autumn-winter period and biotopes in which these animals are encountered are briefly discussed. Most of the meetings are timed to semi-open meliorated territories with shrub thickets and ameliorative canals.

Author Biographies

Vasilij V. Grichik, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliežnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

doctor of science (biology), full professor; head of the department of general ecology and methods of biology teachning, faculty of biology

Vadzim V. Prakapchuk, National Park «Belovezhskaya Pushcha», agro-town Kamenyuki 225063, district Kamenets, Brest region, Belarus

researcher

Alexandra E. Grebenchuk, Scientific and Practical Center, State Forensic Examination Committee of the Republic of Belarus, 25 Filimonava Street, Minsk 220114, Belarus

junior researcher at the scientific laboratory of molecular biological research

Alina A. Rabtsava, State Forensic Examination Committee of the Republic of Belarus, 43 Kal’varijskaja Street, Minsk 220073, Belarus

chief at the sector of research and accounting of objects of animal origin, state forensic expert

Iosif S. Tsybovsky, Scientific and Practical Center, State Forensic Examination Committee of the Republic of Belarus, 25 Filimonava Street, Minsk 220114, Belarus

scientific secretary

References

  1. Geptner VG, Naumov NP, editors. Mlekopitayushchie Sovetskogo Soyuza. Tom 2 (chast’1) [Mammals of Soviet Union. Volume 2 (part 1)]. Moscow: Vysshaya shkola; 1967. p. 100 –123. Russian.
  2. Arnold J, Humer A, Heltai M, Murariu D, Spassov N, Hackländer K. Current status and distribution of jackals Canis aureus in Europe. Mammal Review. 2012;42(1):1–11. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2907.2011.00185.x.
  3. Zagorodniuk I. Golden Jackal (Canis aureus) in Ukraine: Modern Expansion and Status of Species. Proceedings of the National Museum of Natural History. 2014;12:100 –105.
  4. Kowalczyk R, Kolodziej-Sobocinska M, Ruczyńsk I, Wojcik JM. Range expansion of the jackal (Canis aureus) into Poland: first records. Mammal Research. 2015;60(4):411– 414. DOI: 10.1007/s13364-015-0238-9.
  5. Trouwborst A, Krofel M, Linnell JDC. Legal implications of range expansions in a terrestrial carnivore: the case of the golden jackal (Canis aureus) in Europe. Biodiversity and Conservation. 2015;24(10):2593–2610. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-015-0948-y.
  6. Boom R, Sol CJ, Salimans MM, Jansen CL, Wertheim-van Dillen PM, van der Noordaa J. Rapid and simple method for purification of nucleic acids. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 1990;28(3):495–503.
  7. Mikko S, Andersson S. Low major histocompatibility complex class II diversity in European and North American moose. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 1995;92(10):4259 – 4263. PMCID: PMC41923. PMID: 7753793.
  8. National Center for Biotechnological Information [Internet]. [Cited 2018 February 5]. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore.
  9. Tamura K, Nei M. Estimation of the number of nucleotide substitutions in the control region of mitochondrial DNA in humans and chimpanzees. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 1993;10(3):512–526. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a040023.
  10. Felsenstein J. Confidence limits on phylogenies: An approach using the bootstrap. Evolution. 1985;39(4):783–791. DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1985.tb00420.x.
  11. Kumar S, Stecher G, Tamura K. MEGA7: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis version 7.0 for bigger datasets. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 2016;33(7):1870 –1874. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msw054.
  12. Kheidorova EE, Shpak AV, Homel KV, Sidorovich VE, Demianchyk VV, Prakapchuk VV, Nikiforov ME. Molecular genetic indentification of the invasive species – asian jackal (Canis aureus) in the territory of Belarus. Doklady Natsional’noi akademii nauk Belarusi. 2018;62(1):86 – 92. Russian. DOI: 10.29235/1561-8323-2018-62-1-86-92.
Published
2019-01-18
Keywords: golden jackal Canis aureus, resettlement in Europe, theriofauna of Belarus
How to Cite
Grichik, V. V., Prakapchuk, V. V., Grebenchuk, A. E., Rabtsava, A. A., & Tsybovsky, I. S. (2019). Golden jackal (Canis aureus L., 1758) – a new species in the theriofauna of Belarus. Experimental Biology and Biotechnology, 3, 55-61. Retrieved from https://journals.bsu.by/index.php/biology/article/view/2535
Issue
No 3 (2018): Journal of the Belarusian State University. Biology
Section
Zoology

Copyright (c) 2018 Journal of the Belarusian State University. Biology

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The authors who are published in this journal agree to the following:

  1. The authors retain copyright on the work and provide the journal with the right of first publication of the work on condition of license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
  2. The authors retain the right to enter into certain contractual agreements relating to the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g. post it on the institutional repository, publication in the book), with the reference to its original publication in this journal.
  3. The authors have the right to post their work on the Internet (e.g. on the institutional store or personal website) prior to and during the review process, conducted by the journal, as this may lead to a productive discussion and a large number of references to this work. (See The Effect of Open Access.)