Numerous mammalian species of North Africa have an enigmatic distribution between the Mediterranean and Saharan area. In order to study the distribution of hedgehogs in Tunisia, field data were collected from several protected areas and various natural and peri‐urban environments during 4 years 2015–2018 covering the all bioclimatic zones present in the country. The present work provides a detailed geographical and ecological distribution of hedgehogs with a total of 168 occurrence data of Atelerix algirus and Paraechinus aethiopicus. Atelerix algirus showed a wide distribution range from north to south being absent only in the extreme Saharan environment. Paraechinus aethiopicus has been recorded in the centre and the south with a specialisation in the arid and Saharan environment. A parapatry distribution is also shown with a sympatric area between arid and Saharan bioclimates. Our results improve knowledge of the bioclimatic niche and habitat characteristic of these taxa not clearly defined in previous research. The presence of the two hedgehogs on Djerba Island (A. algirus and P. aethiopicus) is also confirmed.

中文翻译：

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突尼斯两个鸢科的分布，生物气候生态位和共生关系

北非的许多哺乳动物在地中海地区和撒哈拉地区之间具有神秘的分布。为了研究突尼斯刺猬的分布，在2015-2018年的4年中，从几个保护区以及各种自然和城市周边环境中收集了野外数据，涵盖了该国所有的生物气候区。目前的工作提供了详细的刺猬的地理和生态分布与总共168发生的Atelerix阿尔及利亚和aethiopicus的发生数据。Atelerix algirus显示从北到南的分布范围很广，仅在极端的撒哈拉沙漠环境中才出现。拟南芥在干旱和撒哈拉沙漠地区的中部和南部都有专门记录。还显示了一个牧区分布，在干旱和撒哈拉生物气候之间有一个同伴区域。我们的结果提高了对这些分类群的生物气候生态位和栖息地特征的认识，而先前的研究并未明确定义。在杰尔巴岛（两个刺猬的存在A. algirus和P. aethiopicus）也被证实。