Preliminary placement and new records of an overlooked Amazonian tree, Christiana mennegae (Malvaceae)

PeerJ

article

Rafael G. Barbosa-Silva¹  Thales Silva Coutinho³  Santelmo Vasconcelos¹  Delmo Fonseca da Silva⁴  Guilherme Oliveira¹  Daniela C. Zappi¹ 

[1] Instituto Tecnológico Vale de Desenvolvimento Sustentável;Coord. Botânica;Programa de Pós-graduação em Biologia Vegetal, Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco;Parque Zoobotânico, Departamento de Ferrosos Norte;Programa de Pós-graduação em Botânica, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília

关键词: Barcode;    Malvales;    Rain forest;    SEM;    Vascular plants;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.12244

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Christiana mennegae is a phylogenetically enigmatic taxon and represents a case in point of a species whose presence escaped the radar of the Amazon lists and the Brazilian Flora project. Here we expand its distribution by adding new records from Peru and overlooked ones from Brazil. To investigate its phylogenetic placement in the Brownlowioideae, part of the rbcL gene of the plastid and the intergenic ITS2 region were sequenced. Macro- and micro-morphological investigation of features of C. mennegae using SEM of foliar, flower, fruit and seed structures are presented. A lectotype for the name is designated here. The morphology of trichomes revealed five types of trichomes ranging from glandular to branched and unbranched and we also report stomata on the seed surface for the first time in Brownlowioideae. Christiana mennegae and C. africana were recovered as sister species in the phylogenetic analysis, albeit with low to moderate support, and more species of this and closely related genera must be sampled and analyzed in order to obtain a clearer picture of the group’s affinities and relationships. We provide an update of its conservation status from Vulnerable to Least Concern. We also highlight the need for investment in the digitization of biological collections, botanical capacity building at the local level and the importance of the availability of online literature to speed the study of Amazonian plant diversity.

【 授权许可】

CC BY