Laboratorio de Entomología, Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción (CICYTTP-CONICET-Gob.ER-UADER), Diamante, Argentina.
Neotrop Entomol. 2022 Jun;51(3):356-367. doi: 10.1007/s13744-022-00950-1. Epub 2022 Mar 2.
Epicauta Dejean is one of the largest genera within Meloidae, with approximately 400 species identified to date. In this work, I applied the maximum entropy algorithm (Maxent) to predict the current and future distribution of this genus in America. A total of 12,130 points and 19 bioclimatic variables were used to model its potential distribution area under current and future climate scenarios. Maxent showed high prediction performance, and 7 out of the 19 variables used were found to be the most influential on the current and future distribution of Epicauta. It also allowed to predict the distribution of Epicauta in geographical areas where different bioclimatic criteria are combined. These areas belong to several provinces of the Nearctic, Neotropical regions and the Mexican and South American transition zones. Maxent also revealed that in North America, the current and future potential distribution of Epicauta is located within 38°N 97°W, while in South America, it is further south, within 25°S 60°W. According to this, it can be concluded that its greatest diversity is circumscribed to temperate and semi-arid regions, and that the tropical habitats of middle America have apparently served as effective barriers to faunal exchange since the intercontinental connection that occurred four million years ago until now. The findings from the present study provide a theoretical basis to better understand the distribution patterns of Epicauta spp. under changing climate conditions.
幽皮蠹属（Epicauta Dejean）是皮蠹科（Meloidae）中最大的属之一，目前已鉴定出约 400 种。在这项研究中，我应用最大熵算法（Maxent）来预测该属在美洲的当前和未来分布。共使用了 12130 个点和 19 个生物气候变量来模拟其在当前和未来气候情景下的潜在分布区域。Maxent 显示出了较高的预测性能，使用的 19 个变量中有 7 个被发现对幽皮蠹属的当前和未来分布有最显著的影响。它还可以预测在不同生物气候标准组合的地理区域中幽皮蠹属的分布。这些区域属于近北极、新热带地区以及墨西哥和南美过渡带的几个省份。Maxent 还揭示了在北美洲，幽皮蠹属的当前和未来潜在分布位于北纬 38°N 97°W 以内，而在南美洲，它的分布进一步向南，位于南纬 25°S 60°W 以内。根据这一结果，可以得出结论，它的最大多样性局限于温带和半干旱地区，而中美洲的热带生境显然自 400 万年前发生的洲际连接以来一直是动物区系交流的有效障碍。本研究的结果为更好地了解幽皮蠹属在气候变化条件下的分布模式提供了理论基础。
