Contribution to the knowledge of cave-dwelling fauna from the Prokletije Mountains

Authors

Joanna Kocot-Zalewska, Upper Silesian Museum, Department of Natural History, PolandFollow
Iwona Słowińska, University of Lodz, PolandFollow
Paweł Domagała, University of Opole, PolandFollow
Jakub Bienias, University of Lodz, PolandFollow
Dominik Szymański, Independent ResearcherFollow
Dawid Szymański, Independent ResearcherFollow
Hubert Szymański, Independent ResearcherFollow
Paweł Sienkiewicz, Poznan University of Life Sciences, PolandFollow
Andrzej Józef Woźnica, Wrocław University of Environmental & Life Sciences, PolandFollow

Highlights

• The article describes the fauna of selected caves from Prokletije Mts.
• This mountain range is located on the border of Montenegro, Albania, and Kosovo
• The elevation of caves is between 1800-2200 m a.s.l., and some are filled with ice
• As a result mainly insects, arachnids, and millipedes were collected

Abstract

The article presents the results of the study on invertebrate fauna inhabiting caves in the Prokletije Mountains. This mountain range is located on the border of Montenegro, Albania, and Kosovo. During the expeditions to Albania in 2021 and to Montenegro in 2022–2023, 17 caves and one bauxite mine were visited altogether. All the studied caves are located very high, above 1,700 m a.s.l., where the temperature inside is low, and several are filled with ice or snow. During the Albanian expedition 102 arthropods have been collected altogether. Among these were 19 beetles (Coleoptera), 44 flies (Diptera), three crickets (Orthoptera), five millipedes (Diplopoda), 16 Opiliones, six spiders (Araneae), two springtails (Collembola), and one tick (Ixodida). During the Montenegrin expeditions 226 specimens belonging to ten groups have been collected: 119 flies (Diptera), 32 beetles (Coleoptera), 20 caddisflies (Trichoptera), 21 spiders (Araneae), 20 Opiliones, six millipedes (Diplopoda), four bristletails (Archeognatha), two crickets (Orthoptera), one pseudoscorpion (Pseudoscorpionida), and one isopod (Isopoda). Ten species we recognized as troglobionts, four as eutroglophiles, and 11 as subtroglophiles. Among the collected species, three are new to Albanian fauna and two to Montenegrin fauna.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.ijs2551

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Kocot-Zalewska, J., Słowińska, I., Domagał, P.J., Bienias, J., Szymański, D.M., Szymański, D., Szymański, H.M., Sienkiewicz, P., Woźnica, A.J., 2025. Contribution to the knowledge of cave-dwelling fauna from the Prokletije Mountains. International Journal of Speleology, 54(1), ijs2551. https://doi.org/10.5038/1827-806X.ijs2551