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Geographical patterns of species richness and beta diversity of Larentiinae moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) in two temperate biodiversity hotspots

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Abstract

Biodiversity hotspots have been in the mainstream of studies and debates regarding conservation and biodiversity. Results, however, are skewed towards vertebrates and the tropics, and cannot simply be generalized to invertebrates and temperate biodiversity hotspot regions. In this first study of its kind, we explored the spatial patterns of Larentiinae moth (except genus Eupithecia Curtis, 1825) species richness and beta diversity in two neighbouring temperate biodiversity hotspots, the Caucasus and the Irano-Anatolian biodiversity hotspots, Middle Palearctic. We explored how spatial gradients contribute to the formation of moth species richness in these two biodiversity hotspots by disentangling beta diversity patterns to spatial turnover and nestedness components. Larentiinae moths showed a positive association with latitude and a unimodal relationship with elevation. The latitudinal gradient contributed more than the elevational gradient in formation of biodiversity. Both hotspots showed similar patterns of beta diversity partitioning, demonstrating a large contribution of spatial turnover to biodiversity formation. Constant high values of spatial turnover across 17° of latitudinal gradient may indicate that diversity has been formed by a consistent mechanism of horizontal species level diversification of larentine moths throughout mountains.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Martin Pfeiffer and Jan Beck for insightful comments on early version of the manuscript. We thank Joy M. Layton for the linguistic correction of the manuscript.

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  1. Omid Paknia

    Present address: State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, Rosenstein 1, 70191, Stuttgart, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ITZ, Division of Ecology and Evolution, Stiftung Tieraerztliche Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany

    Omid Paknia

  2. Biocentre Grindel and Zoological Museum, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Hossein Rajaei Sh

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  1. Omid Paknia
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Correspondence to Omid Paknia.

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Paknia, O., Rajaei Sh, H. Geographical patterns of species richness and beta diversity of Larentiinae moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) in two temperate biodiversity hotspots. J Insect Conserv 19, 729–739 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-015-9795-0

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