Melanabropsis, Wang & Liu, 2020

Yin, Zi-Xu, 2024, Distribution of the mysterious Chevron Crickets Melanabropsis Wang & Liu, 2020, with a remarkable new species from Hainan, China (Orthoptera: Anostostomatidae: Anabropsini), Zootaxa 5474 (1), pp. 81-93 : 87-89

2. Melanabropsis distribution analysis

The model performance is very high, as the AUC value for 10 replicates equals 0.996 ± 0.003 (standard deviation). Mean diurnal range (bio_2) is the most important variables when predicting suitable habitats, with max temperature of warmest month (bio_5), annual precipitation (bio_12) and precipitation of warmest quarter (bio_18) ranking in top four ( Tab. 2 ). The response curve of bio_2 shows that: the highest suitability is observed when the temperature difference is less than 5 ℃, gradually decreasing with increasing mean diurnal range, and becoming unsuitable when the temperature difference exceeds 8 ℃ ( Fig. 9A ). The response curve of bio_5 shows that the most suitable max temperature in summer is about 27 ℃ ( Fig. 9B ). The response curve of bio_12 and bio_18 shows that the more precipitation (especially in summer), the more suitable for the species ( Fig. 9 CD). In conclusion, the species of Melanabropsis prefer humid areas with relatively low summer temperature and small diurnal temperature differences.

The table only shows the variables which permutation importance are more than zero.

Fig. 8B shows the potential distributed area of Melanabropsis , which aligns with the distribution information in Fig. 8A . Among the distribution of known species, the Ryukyu Islands demonstrate the highest suitability. North of both Zhejiang Province and Guangxi Province in China, which represent the current distribution area of M. tianmuica , also exhibit moderate suitability with scattered mountains.Among distribution of known species, Hainan Island exhibits the lowest suitability.

The analysis of the predicted distribution reveals that Taiwan Island, and other islands on the southeast of Taiwan Island such as Green Island and Orchid Island, all exhibit extremely high suitability. Dalou Mountains, Wuyi Mountains and Nanling Mountains in China, as well as east of Kon Tum in Vietnam exhibit moderate suitability. The observation records of Chinese insect lovers confirm the accuracy of the predicted distribution in this study: Fig. 10D observed from Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in the Dalou Mountains; Fig. 10E observed from Wuyi Mountain National Nature Reserve in the Wuyi Mountains.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Distribution maps of Melanabropsis. A. distribution localities; B. potential geographic suitable distribution area.

FIGURE 9. Response curves. A. mean diurnal range (bio_2); B. max temperature of warmest month (bio_5); C. annual precipitation (bio_12); D. precipitation of warmest quarter (bio_18). The green shade shows the standard deviation of 10 replicate of Maxent.

FIGURE 10. Living Melanabropsis sp. from China. A–C. M. nightfury from Jianfengling National Forest Park by Michael Lee and Muyuan Wu; D. M. cf. tianmuica from Zhangjiajie National Forest Park by Zexun Yang; E. M. cf. tianmuica from Wuyi Mountain National Nature Reserve by Fan Gao.