WILDCAT (FELIS SILVESTRIS SCHREBER, 1777) IN UKRAINE: MODERN STATE OF THE POPULATIONS AND EASTWARDS... 233 UDC 599.742.73(477) WILDCAT (FELIS SILVESTRIS SCHREBER, 1777) IN UKRAINE: MODERN STATE OF THE POPULATIONS AND EASTWARDS EXPANSION OF THE SPECIES I. Zagorodniuk1, M. Gavrilyuk2, M. Drebet3, I. Skilsky4, A. Andrusenko5, A. Pirkhal6 1 National Museum of Natural History, NAS of Ukraine 15, Bohdan Khmelnytskyi St., Kyiv, 01601, Ukraine e-mail:
[email protected] 2 Bohdan Khmelnitsky National University of Cherkasy 81, Shevchenko Blvd., Cherkasy 18031, Ukraine 3 National Nature Park “Podilski Tovtry” 6, Polskyi Rynok Sq., Kamianets-Podilskyi 32301, Khmelnytsk Region, Ukraine 4 Chernivtsi Regional Museum, 28, O. Kobylianska St., Chernivtsi 58002, Ukraine 5 National Nature Park “Bugsky Hard” 83, Pervomaiska St., Mygia 55223, Pervomaisky District, Mykolaiv Region, Ukraine 6 Vinnytsia Regional Laboratory Centre, 11, Malynovskyi St., Vinnytsya 21100, Ukraine Modern state of the wildcat populations in Ukraine is analyzed on the basis of de- tailed review and analysis of its records above (annotations) and before (detailed ca- dastre) 2000. Data on 71 modern records in 10 administrative regions of Ukraine are summarized, including: Lviv (8), Volyn (1), Ivano-Frankivsk (2), Chernivtsi (31), Khmelnyts kyi (4), Vinnytsia (14), Odesa (4), Mykolaiv (4), Kirovohrad (2) and Cherkasy (1) regions. Detailed maps of species distribution in some regions, and in Ukraine in gene ral, and the analysis of the rates of expansion as well as direction of change in species limits of the distribution are presented. Morphological characteristics of the samples from the territory of Ukraine are described. Keywords: wildcat, state of populations, geographic range, expansion, Ukraine.