RESEARCH ARTICLE Ecological niche modeling the potential geographic distribution of four Culicoides species of veterinary significance in Florida, USA 1 1 2,3 4 Kristin E. SloyerID *, Nathan D. Burkett-Cadena , Anni Yang , Joseph L. Corn , Stacey 4 1 5 2,3 L. VigilID , Bethany L. McGregor , Samantha M. Wisely , Jason K. Blackburn a1111111111 1 Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, University of Florida, Vero Beach, Florida, United States of a1111111111 America, 2 Spatial Epidemiology and Ecology Research Laboratory, Geography Department, University of a1111111111 Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America, 3 Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, a1111111111 Gainesville, Florida, United States of America, 4 Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, a1111111111 University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America, 5 Department of Wildlife, Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America *
[email protected] OPEN ACCESS Abstract Citation: Sloyer KE, Burkett-Cadena ND, Yang A, Corn JL, Vigil SL, McGregor BL, et al. (2019) Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) is a viral arthropod-borne disease affecting wild and Ecological niche modeling the potential geographic domestic ruminants, caused by infection with epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV). distribution of four Culicoides species of veterinary significance in Florida, USA. PLoS ONE 14(2): EHDV is transmitted to vertebrate animal hosts by biting midges in the genus Culicoides e0206648. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. Latreille (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). Culicoides sonorensis Wirth and Jones is the only con- pone.0206648 firmed vector of EHDV in the United States but is considered rare in Florida and not suffi- Editor: Ben J. Mans, Onderstepoort Veterinary ciently abundant to support EHDV transmission.