Error in getting distribution data for species endemic to a single region

[wajra]

I was testing the packages using a few species native to Sri Lanka and I consistently ran into the same issue. It appears that when a species is endemic to a single region, 'rcites::spp_distributions' doesn't return a valid value.
I've illustrated the issue below.
If we take the 'Red Slender Loris' (Loris tardigradus), a Loris species native to the rainforests of Sri Lanka and try to get it's distribution, the package throws an error.

library(rcites)

rcites::set_token("YOUR_TOKEN")

# Check for the Sri Lankan Slender Loris
loris <- rcites::spp_taxonconcept("Loris tardigradus")

# Get the species ID
loris_id <- loris$all_id$id

# Get the species distribution
loris_distribution <- rcites::spp_distributions(taxon_id=loris_id)

The error is as follows

Error in apply(tmp[, !colnames(tmp) %in% c("tags", "references")], 2, : dim(X) must have a positive length

However, if we take the Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus), which is found across several Asian regions, there is no such error.

elephant <- rcites::spp_taxonconcept("Elephas maximus")

elephant_id <- elephant$all_id$id

elephant_distribution <- rcites::spp_distributions(taxon=elephant_id)

Thank you for your time. I hope this issue is solvable or I made an honest mistake.

[KevCaz]

Confirmed. Thanks for the report and the reprex, very much appreciated. I am now investigating this.

[KevCaz]

@wajra it should be ok now

R> # Check for the Sri Lankan Slender Loris 
   loris <- rcites::spp_taxonconcept("Loris tardigradus") 
    
   # Get the species ID 
   loris_id <- loris$all_id$id 
    
   # Get the species distribution 
   loris_distribution <- rcites::spp_distributions(taxon_id=loris_id)                                                                                         
→ Retrieving info from page 1 ........................✔
→ Now processing taxon_id '10000'.....................✔

R> loris_distribution                                                                                                                                         

── Distributions ($distributions): ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
     id iso_code2      name    type tags
1 40386        LK Sri Lanka COUNTRY     

── References ($references): ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
     id                        reference
1 40386 Brandon-Jones, D., E [truncated]
2 40386 Eisenberg, J. F. and [truncated]
3 40386 Gamage S., Liyanage, [truncated]
4 40386 Nekaris, K. A. I. an [truncated]
5 40386 Petter, J.-J. and Hl [truncated]
6 40386 Phillips, W. W. A. 1 [truncated]

you'd need to use the dev version for some time, but I am planning on releasing a patched version on CRAN soon. Again thanks for the report. Let me know if everything is working on your side, so I can close 😄 !

[wajra]

Hello Kevin,

I just installed the dev version and the issue appears to be fixed. Thank you very much for being so quick to respond.

Thanks again.
Kind regards
Jeewantha Bandara