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Background <p>The Buthidae, is the largest and most widely distributed scorpion family that encompasses more than 1300 species worldwide and includes several medically important scorpions. Though they pose significant public health risks, there is a critical knowledge gap about the species-environmental interactions of Buthidae species in India. The present study addresses this by systematically mapping Buthidae species distributions across Central India in ArcGIS environment and finding out their suitable habitats using Maximum entropy modeling approach. The study also aims to identify the key environmental predictors of habitat suitability using Jackknife analysis.</p> Results <p>The spatial patterns revealed scattered or an evenly distribution of most of the species except <i>Hottentotta rugiscutis</i> and <i>Buthoscorpio politus</i>, which show more or less a clustered distribution. Species distribution model demonstrated significant variation in minimum (<b>≤</b> 22%) and maximum predictive performances (≥ 83%) across scorpion species. Suitable habitat for all species found to be diffused except <i>H. rugiscutis</i> and <i>B. politus</i>, for which the area under curve value was found to be excellent (≥ 90%) and very good (≥ 80%&lt;90%), respectively. The highest suitable habitat was found for <i>H. jabalpurensis</i> (56.6%) and the lowest for <i>H. rugiscutis</i> (13%). For most species, hydrological factors like precipitation and relative humidity were key determinants of scorpion distribution in the study area. The result demonstrated clear interspecific variation in model performance and environmental drivers that play a critical role in niche partitioning through microhabitat stratification. Most species were found to be habitat specialists that are adapted to human settlements. Central Madhya Pradesh and Northwest Chhattisgarh emerged as high-risk regions for scorpion envenomation risks.</p> Conclusion <p>This study brought into light the first predictive framework for medically significant Buthidae scorpions in Central India, integrating field surveys with species distribution modeling to provide critical insights to understand interspecific variation in model performance and environmental drivers in spatial segregation. The overall outcome of the study will no doubt help in management of Buthid scorpions in Central India for their conservation and better addressing of human-scorpion interactions in this region.</p>

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Species-environmental interactions: a predictive MaxEnt modeling approach for management of the Buthid scorpions in Central India

  • 期刊论文

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年6月26日

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  • Pragya Pandey,
  • Pratyush P. Mohaptra,
  • Sudheer K. Jena,
  • Niraj Rai,
  • Sanjay Keshari Das

摘要

Background

The Buthidae, is the largest and most widely distributed scorpion family that encompasses more than 1300 species worldwide and includes several medically important scorpions. Though they pose significant public health risks, there is a critical knowledge gap about the species-environmental interactions of Buthidae species in India. The present study addresses this by systematically mapping Buthidae species distributions across Central India in ArcGIS environment and finding out their suitable habitats using Maximum entropy modeling approach. The study also aims to identify the key environmental predictors of habitat suitability using Jackknife analysis.

Results

The spatial patterns revealed scattered or an evenly distribution of most of the species except Hottentotta rugiscutis and Buthoscorpio politus, which show more or less a clustered distribution. Species distribution model demonstrated significant variation in minimum (≤ 22%) and maximum predictive performances (≥ 83%) across scorpion species. Suitable habitat for all species found to be diffused except H. rugiscutis and B. politus, for which the area under curve value was found to be excellent (≥ 90%) and very good (≥ 80%<90%), respectively. The highest suitable habitat was found for H. jabalpurensis (56.6%) and the lowest for H. rugiscutis (13%). For most species, hydrological factors like precipitation and relative humidity were key determinants of scorpion distribution in the study area. The result demonstrated clear interspecific variation in model performance and environmental drivers that play a critical role in niche partitioning through microhabitat stratification. Most species were found to be habitat specialists that are adapted to human settlements. Central Madhya Pradesh and Northwest Chhattisgarh emerged as high-risk regions for scorpion envenomation risks.

Conclusion

This study brought into light the first predictive framework for medically significant Buthidae scorpions in Central India, integrating field surveys with species distribution modeling to provide critical insights to understand interspecific variation in model performance and environmental drivers in spatial segregation. The overall outcome of the study will no doubt help in management of Buthid scorpions in Central India for their conservation and better addressing of human-scorpion interactions in this region.