Distribution data of the dormice species in Romania: a review

All four species of dormice present in Romania are listed as Vulnerable in the Romanian Red Book of Vertebrates and are protected by national laws. Even though they are important bioindicators of the condition of forest habitats, little is known about their distribution. We reviewed the distribution data for the Romanian dormice species: the Garden Dormouse (Eliomys quercinus), Hazel Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius), Edible Dormouse (Glis glis), and Forest Dormouse (Dryomys nitedula). Our sources include published scientific literature, online databases (such as GBIF, Observation.org and iNaturalist), museum collections, verified citizen’s data as well as original data. A database was organized in GeoPackage format in QGIS 3.16.0. Historical locations from old scientific papers were georeferenced and included in the database with all metadata found. Recent and original data locations were recorded using geographical coordinates. Our aim was to produce up to date distribution maps for the dormice species occuring in Romania that can be further used in potential habitat modelling for the study and protection of these species and their habitat. We found the most abundant observation were of Muscardinus avellanarius and the least recorded species was Eliomys quercinus, without any recent data.