An ultrastructure of microsporidia spores of Glugea anomala from Pungitius pungitius, G. gasterostei from Gasterosteus aculeatus, G. fennica from Lota lota, G. hertwigi from Osmerus eperlanus, G. acerinae from Gimnocephalus cernua and Glugea sp. from Perca fluviatilis is described. Similar spore organisation in these microsporidian species has been established. A conclusions about close phylogenetic relationships of species examined and homogeneity of the genus Glugea are proposed. Problems of species validity of G. anomala, G. gasterostei and G. weissenbergi from sticklebacks and microsporidian species from a common ruff and perch are discussed.

В статье впервые публикуются и анализируются материалы, полученные при раскопках скифского кургана 8 группы «Водовод» у с. Глиное на левобережье Нижнего Днестра. Под насыпью исследованы пять скифских погребений. Основное захоронение было совершено в катакомбе II типа, два впускных – в катакомбах I типа, ещё два впускных – в ямах. Подобное сочетание погребальных сооружений отмечено впервые в Северо-Западном Причерноморье. Погребальный инвентарь представлен горшком и лепным пряслицем, железным ножом с деревянной рукоятью и железной иглой, двумя браслетами и ожерельем из стеклянных бусин, бронзовым и железным наконечниками стрел, серебряной ворворкой. Курган датируется рубежом IV-III вв. до н.э. Его материалы дают важную информацию о трансформации классической скифской культуры в позднескифскую. The article for the first time publishes and analyses the Scythian barrow No. 8 of the «Sluiceway» group of barrows located near Glinoe in Slobodzeya district on the left bank of the Lower Dniester Region. Five Scythian burials were investigated under the mound. The main grave was made in the catacomb of the IInd type, two secondary burials were made in the catacombs of the Ist type, and two other secondary graves were made in pits. Such a combination of funeral structures was noted for the first time in the North-West Black Sea Region. The grave goods are represented by a pot and handmade spindle whorl, an iron knife with a wooden handle and an iron needle, two bracelets and a necklace of glass beads, bronze and iron arrowheads, and a silver finial. The barrow dates back to the border of the 4th – 3rd centuries BC. Its materials give important information about the transformation of classical Scythian culture into the Late Scythian culture.

This paper characterizes a collection of aquatic mollusks collected from 1972 to 1985 by Nikolay Konstantinovich Alekseev (1910–1985), an ichthyologist at the Kaliningrad Technical Institute of Fishing Industry and Economy (KTI) in the western part of the Kaliningrad Region (Russia) and near the Pereslavskoye Village (the center of the Sambia Peninsula and its upland). The collection was stored for 30 years at the Kaliningrad State Technical University in the Museum named after the hydrobiologist, Prof. N.S. Gayevskaya and consists of two parts: expositional – shells of 37 species of mollusks (bivalves and gastropods), and non-expositional – 174 samples of bivalves (Sphaeriidae and Pisidiidae). In total, we identified 16 species (in 139 samples with label data) out of 24 possible regionally known species of small-sized bivalve mollusks. We give a brief biography of N.K. Alekseev and information about his creative and work activities and analyze the experience of tudying mollusks in the Kaliningrad Region. Significance of the collection and contribution of N.K. Alekseev to the study of aquatic mollusks of the Kaliningrad Region are discussed.

The article dwells on the find of the bronze basin in the burial no. 5 of the kurgan no. 1 of the group “Bogomol’nye peski I” near the village of Nikolskoye, Enotaevsky District, Astrakhan Region. A belt-set of gold with turquoise inlays found in the region of the pelvic bones of a 40–45-year-old warrior, an iron dagger in a wooden scabbard with round-shaped iron overlays covered with gold foil and with turquoise inlays, and other finds allowed the author of the excavations to attribute the burial to the 1st–2nd centuries AD. It is obvious that the buried warrior belonged to the nomadic elite. A bronze basin, standing almost vertically, was leaning against the northern side of the grave-pit at its bottom. The analysis has shown that the basin belongs to a rare variant, till now unknown in Sarmatia. The closest parallel of its edge with a rim bent outwards and decorated with a band of Ionian kymation is a basin from the prince’s burial in Hoby on the island of Lolland in Denmark, usu...

The checklist of Nematoda and Gordiacea parasitizing agnathans and fishes in the Volga River basin is presented. Hosts and areas of distribution are indicated for each parasite species. The checklist includes 39 species and 11 nonidentified larval forms of nematodes from 51 fish species. Larvae of Gordius sp. are found in 5 fish species. The nemadote species Sinoichthyonema amuri have been introduced into the Volga basin occasionally during the process on introduction of fish species from Amur River.

The paper examines such first cast coins of the North-Western Black Sea region as bronze arrow coins and dolphins. While arrow coins are characterized by the consistence of shape and the stability of chemical and metallurgical qualities, the Olbian anepigraphic dolphins, in addition to typological differences, featured a variety of metal from which they were cast, and this can indicate that various craftsmen participated in their manufacture, including those from different areas of the Black Sea region. The high content of arsenic and antimony in the metal of particular dolphins makes it possible to associate its origin with the Volga–Kama deposits, from where copper could have reached the Scythian artisans in the Middle Dnieper region, which in turn extended their activities to the ancient sites of the Lower Bug region.