Vol. 54, 2015

Current and potential geographical distribution of Platymeris biguttatus (Linnaeus, 1767) with description of nymphs

Dominik Chłond, Agnieszka Bugaj-Nawrocka* and Łukasz Junkiert

Department of Zoology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Silesia, Bankowa 9, 40-007 Katowice, Poland

Abstract
Background: The description of Platymeris biguttatus (Linnaeus 1767) nymphal instars as well as the prediction of the potentially suitable ecological niche was the main goal of this study. Our research was based on 258 specimens of P. biguttatus species of museum collections. A set of 23 environmental predictor variables covering Africa was used at ecological niche modeling - a method performed using the Maxent software to prepare potential distribution maps for this species.
Results: The results suggested the most suitable areas seen as potentially suitable ecological niche for P. biguttatus in Africa. A jackknife test showed that temperature seasonality and percentage of tree cover were among the most important environmental variables affecting the distribution of the species. The analysis of climate preferences shows that most of the potentially suitable niches for this species were located in the area of tropical savanna climate, with a small participation of tree vegetation.
Conclusions: P. biguttatus was only known to be widely distributed in the tropical part of continental Africa. Thanks to the ecological niche modeling methods and the museum data on the occurrence of the species, we introduced new information about potentially suitable ecological niches and the possible range of distribution.

Key words: Africa; Comparison of niches; Ecological niche modeling; Habitat suitability; Species distribution.

*Correspondence: E-mail: abugaj-nawrocka@us.edu.pl