Abstract
Badgers can gather huge quantities of organic material to build their nests for winter time and to rear their cubs. Moreover, badger burrows (setts) are characterized by specific microclimate with quite stable temperature and humidity. Their fauna is poorly studied, especially in respect of saprobiontic Uropodina mites. In 2018–2019, we monitored 94 badger setts to search for nest material that had been thrown away during cleaning of the chambers after mating and winter sleep. In the collected material from 32 badger nests, we found 413 Uropodina mites of 16 species, in various stages of development (adults, protonymphs, and deutonymphs). The community was dominated by three mite species: Trematura patavina (22.5%, n = 93), Oodinychus ovalis (17.2%, n = 71), and Olodiscus minima (15.5%, n = 64). Other nidicolous—i.e., nest-dwelling—species included: Nenteria oudemansi (14.8%, n = 61), Phaulodiaspis borealis (7.0%, n = 29), Phaulodiaspis rackei (4.6%, n = 19), Uroseius hunzikeri (1.7%, n = 7), Uropoda orbicularis (1.5%, n = 6), and Apionoseius infirmus (1.0%, n = 4). The most frequent species were: Oodinychus ovalis (62.5%, 20 nests), N. oudemansi (46.9%, 15 nests), and Olodiscus minima (40.6%, 13 nests). Detrended correspondence analysis indicated that the Uropodina community from badger nests differed from that of mole nests, studied earlier. In setts, the Uropodina community included T. patavina and N. oudemansi, which were for the first time recorded from underground badger nests. This is the first record of N. oudemansi from Poland.
Highlights
European badger (Meles meles) burrows, known as setts, play an important role in shaping species diversity in many habitats across Europe, e.g., in respect of vascular plants (Kurek et al 2014), mosses (Kurek and Cykowska-Marzencka 2016), soil-dwelling animals (Rola et al 2017), and fungi (Sleeman et al 1995, 1997)
31 analysed nests were inhabited by Uropodina mites
The Uropodina community was dominated by three species: Trematura patavina (22.5%, n = 93 individuals), Oodinychus ovalis (17.2%, n = 71), and Olodiscus minima (15.5%, n = 64) (Table 2)
Summary
European badger (Meles meles) burrows, known as setts, play an important role in shaping species diversity in many habitats across Europe, e.g., in respect of vascular plants (Kurek et al 2014), mosses (Kurek and Cykowska-Marzencka 2016), soil-dwelling animals (Rola et al 2017), and fungi (Sleeman et al 1995, 1997) This is caused by permanent digging out the soil from deeper horizons and creation of bare ground heaps near the numerous entrances to setts (Kurek 2019), which form elaborate systems of chambers connected by underground corridors (Roper 1992). Despite the huge quantity of gathered organic material, the fauna inhabiting nests in badger burrows is still poorly studied, especially in respect of mites
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