Ivan Verkhratsky and his review on bat biology and on the bat fauna of Galicia (1869)

Abstract

The first publication about bats in Ukrainian was discovered. It was written by the famous Galician naturalist Ivan Verkhratsky for the Pravda journal in 1869. This work is an evidence that the investigator carried out not only linguistic but also natural history research. The work probably played an important role in the education, development of knowledge, and research on the biology of this little-known group of animals. The article contains important information about morphology, anatomy, ecology, reproduction, behavior, and taxonomy of bats. Besides, it contains unique information about the local fauna, obtained by summarizing of previously published works and original data. The author also made a considerable contribution into development of the Ukrainian scientific zoonymics and proposed Ukrainian names for all genera and species described in his review. Verkhratsky’s data have not only historical value but they are also important for the development of nomenclature, as well as for analysis of fauna long-term changes. He provided important information on the abundance and distribution of species that allows to compare it with current statuses of populations, and analyze values of fauna changes.

Keywords

• bats
• Chiroptera
• biology
• fauna
• zoonyms
• Galicia
• Ukraine