Habitat suitability of the Critically Endangered Lorestan Newt, Neurergus kaiseri (SCHMIDT, 1952) In Southwestern Iran

N. kaiseri, from the southern Zagros Mountains in Lorestan and Khuzestan Provinces, is characteristically different from the other two newts of the genus Neurergus (N. microspilotus and N. crocatus) occurring in Iran by a long and narrow band of yellow color with several round blotches of white color. Modeling the distribution patterns of species is a generally efficient tool to assess their ecological characteristics. In this study, we used maximum entropy, MaxEnt, a method as a tool to assess potential distribution for Neurergus kaiseri in regional scale. The MaxEnt model predicted potentially suitable habitats for N. kaiseri with high success rates (AUC Training data = 0.904 ± 0.057). According to the map constructed, four important variables had a high contribution to species presence: elevation (38%), Precipitation of Warmest Quarter (15.8%), Min Temperature of Coldest Month (10.3%) and Precipitation of Coldest Quarter (8.7) variables. According to our results in the present study, Lorestan newts prefer mountain area with low rainfall in southern Lorestan and northern Khuzestan provinces, although the species need fountains for survival and reproduction.