Examining ecological niche for six species of whip spider in Colombia
Abstract
The conditioning variables for the establishment of Amblypygi populations and their ecological interactions are currently poorly studied. Delving deeper into this can help to conserve this group of short-range distribution species, which are useful as a model in biogeographic research. In this study, we evaluated the distribution and overlapping patterns of ecological niche in six species of amblypygids (Phrynus araya, P. panche, P. pulchripes, Heterophrynus batesii, H. boterorum, H. cervinus) in the Andean and Amazonian ecosystems of Colombia, revealing a clear biogeographic segregation driven by environmental gradients: Phrynus species were associated with inter-Andean valleys with high thermal and water seasonality. While the Heterophrynus occupied more stable and humid conditions of foothills and middle elevations. Overlap analyses showed significant divergence (e.g., D=0.105 between P. panche and H. batesii), with high unfilling values (up to 73.2%), indicating limited niche overlap and habitat specialization, although historical coexistence was detected in certain pairs of species (e.g., 99.1% stability between H. cervinus and H. boterorum). In the future, the integration of ecological niche modeling (ENM) with phylogeographic and behavioral approaches will be crucial for identifying niche partitioning mechanisms and optimizing conservation strategies for endemic taxa in complex tropical landscapes.
Vasquez-Palacios, S., & Chirivi-Joya, D. A. (2026). Examining ecological niche for six species of whip spider in Colombia . Biogeographia – The Journal of Integrative Biogeography, 41(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.21426/B6.61687 Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4p02p73c