An update on the distribution of the coypu, Myocastor coypus, in Asia and Africa through published literature, citizen-science and online platforms

The coypu, Myocastor coypus, has been introduced worldwide for fur farming and is widely recognized as one of the mostinvasive alien mammals of the world, affecting natural ecosystems, crops and possibly human health. Here we present acomprehensive up-to-date review of its distribution and status in Asia and Africa. Using a multi-source approach, we collectedoccurrences from published literature as well as from online biodiversity platforms (e.g. GBIF, iNaturalist), videosharing platforms, and local experts. Additionally, we used an ensemble modelling approach to predict the climatic suitabilityacross Africa and Asia. We present an updated distribution map, including a total of 1506 spatially explicit recordsfrom 1973 to 2021, covering 1 African and 16 Asian countries. We find evidence for current populations in Kenya and fivenew countries since the last review of (Carter and Leonard, Wildl Soc Bull 30:162-175, 2002): Iran, Jordan, Lebanon,Uzbekistan, and Vietnam, and identify main clusters of coypu occurrence in Western (including Transcaucasia) and EastAsia. We show that warm temperate and Mediterranean areas on both continents are predicted to be climatically suitablefor the coypu and highlight not only areas of possible spread, but also potential data gaps, i.e. with high suitability and lowavailability of concrete information (e.g. China, Southern Russia). We emphasize the importance of citizen involvement andthe urgency for coypu-targeted studies in data-poor regions to obtain a clear picture of the geographical distribution and tobetter address management strategies.