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Schreiber’s bent-winged bat Miniopterus schreibersii (Chiroptera) is a widespread, cave-dwelling, regionally migrating species whose genetic diversity was studied throughout its distribution area using mitochondrial and nuclear markers. Previous studies revealed little to no structuring of populations and established Anatolia to be a single refugium during the last glacial maximum. The Balkans were well covered in these studies but usually lacked samples from Serbia. We sequenced the mitochondrial hypervariable region 1 (HV1) gene in M. schreibersii collected at seven sites in Serbia to assess their genetic relatedness to other European and Asia Minor populations and check whether the Balkans exhibit a higher genetic diversity than Western Europe due to its closeness to Anatolia. We recorded nine haplotypes from Serbia, six of which had not been previously reported, with a haplotype diversity of 0.585. The remaining three were shared with individuals from Portugal, Greece, and Turkey. A single most common haplotype was present throughout the species distribution range, pointing to a well-connected population and as indicated by the shape of the haplotype network, a common origin, and a sudden population expansion. Results complement existing data on M. schreibersii having a non-structured population, adding valuable new data from the Balkans supporting the previous hypothesis about its Anatolian origin.

As a part of research activities focused on rodent helminth fauna in Serbia, over the previous decade, we registered the presence of a species with zoonotic potential, Moniliformis moniliformis, an acanthocephalan (or spiny-headed worm) intestinal parasite that primarily infects rats, mice, and voles. The adult form of the species M. moniliformis was found in the small intestine of a single striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius) from Cer Mountain, and two individuals of the yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis) from the localities of Donji Milanovac and Senokos. Another species of Acanthocephala, reported in earlier studies of Spermophilus citellus in Serbia, is Macracanthorhynchus hirudinaceus, which also has zoonotic potential. Data on human infection with the acanthocephalans are scarce worldwide, including Serbia, but they should not be ignored.

B chromosomes (Bs) are supernumerary to the standard chromosome set, from which they prevalently derive. Variation in numbers both among individuals or populations and among cells within individuals is their constant feature. Leisler's bat Nyctalusleisleri (Kuhl, 1817) is one of only four species of Chiroptera with detected Bs. Four males of N.leisleri were collected from two localities on the territory of Serbia and cytogenetically analysed. All animals had Bs with interindividual variability ranging from two to five heterochromatic micro Bs. The highest number of Bs was detected in this species. Among mammals, Rodentia and Chiroptera are orders with the largest number of species, but Bs frequently appear in rodents and rarely in chiropterans. Possible explanations for this difference are offered., (Marija Rajičić, Ivana Budinski, Milan Miljević, Branka Bajić, Milan Paunović, Mladen Vujošević, Jelena Blagojević.)