Studying the Interaction Between Asphondylia punica and Its Host Plant, Atriplex halimus, and Predicting Their Potential Geographic Distribution in Egypt by Using Maxent Technique

Abstract

Galls and their inducing insects represent one of the most challenges that facing entomologists because of their unique life history and the highly characteristic gall structure. Gall-inducing insects and their distributions in Egypt of little studies which depend on few researchers from countries of Europe during their scientific journeys. Asphondylia punica (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) is associated with one of the most important medicinal plants, the Atriplex halimus (Chenopodiaceae). A. punica induces fusiform swellings galls on the stem of A. halimus with multiple chambers. The interaction between the gall inducer Asphondylia punica and its host plant A. halimus were studied. The results indicated that there was a significant correlation between the number of galls per plant and the plant cover but there was no correlation between the number of galls per plant and altitude. The predicted distributions of Asphondylia punica in Egypt were done by using MaxEnt technique. The results showed that the prediction distribution of Asphondylia punica and its host plant Atriplex halimus is concentrated in Mediterranean coastal regions.