Abstract
Insects are the most diverse animal group, with remarkable and critical ecological roles, but the understanding of the taxonomic diversity, distribution, and biology of the overwhelming majority of lineages remains in its incipient stages. One means of addressing the lack of reliable distributional data for many groups is to predict probable records using species distribution models (SDMs), and this is particularly useful for generally undersampled and rarely encountered groups. Here, we use existing distribution records for species and genera of Mantophasmatodea (Insecta: Notoptera) to generate SDMs and discuss their utility for future sampling efforts. We used two different algorithms (Envelope Score and MaxEnt) to generate potential distributions and indicate areas for future field surveys for some of the genera and species of Mantophasmatodea with at least 10 unique occurrence records. The models showed good predictive capability (true skill statistics >0.9), with different taxa exhibiting variables, endemic ranges largely in southern and southwestern Africa, areas under considerable risk from climate change. South and Southwest Africa are the best places to focus sampling efforts for empirical data on current occurrences and any possible future shifts, as well as the potential for discovery of previously unknown species. These results also highlight the need to study the smaller and lesser known lineages of invertebrates that may not represent charismatic target taxa but nonetheless harbor unique life histories with unknown ecological roles.
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Acknowledgments
ZAS and AFAA received fellowships from Coordenação para o Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—CAPES. PDMJ was constantly supported by grants from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—CNPq. LMC has his PhD funded by CAPES—Brazil, Science Without Borders fellowship, process number 10075-13-5. The authors would like to thank the suggestions from Sara Varela to a previous version of this manuscript.
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Silva, D.P., Spigoloni, Z.A., Camargos, L.M. et al. Distributional modeling of Mantophasmatodea (Insecta: Notoptera): a preliminary application and the need for future sampling. Org Divers Evol 16, 259–268 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-015-0250-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-015-0250-6