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Tuesday, December 17th, 2019
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| 9:04a | [Botany • 2019] Phyllanthus huamotensis & P. chantaranothaii (Phyllanthaceae) • Two New Species of Phyllanthus from A Limestone Mountain, northern Thailand
Abstract Two Phyllanthus species are newly described from a limestone mountain in the north of Thailand. The first species, P. huamotensis Pornp., Chantar. & J.Parn., sp. nov., is one of the most distinct Phyllanthus species easily distinguished by its reddish branchlets and stem, conspicuous reddish venation, especially on the lower leaf surface, red sepals with long fimbriate margin and red capsule with papillose-puberulous surface. The second species, P. chantaranothaii Pornp., J.Parn. & Hodk., sp. nov., is similar to P. pulcher Wall. ex Müll.Arg., but it is distinguished by its puberulous upper leaf surface and pistillate flowers which have red, narrowly lanceolate sepals with a white, long fimbriate margin, puberulous outer side as well as puberulous pedicel. Keywords: diversity, Euphorbiaceae, new taxa, revision, taxonomy
Phyllanthus huamotensis Pornp., Chantar. & J.Parn., sp. nov. Diagnosis: Phyllanthus huamotensis is one of the most distinct species of Phyllanthus in Thailand, easily distinguished by its reddish branchlets and stem, conspicuous reddish venation, especially on the lower leaf surface, red sepals with long fimbriate margins and red capsule with a papillose-puberulous surface. It is most similar to P. pulcher Wall. ex Müll.Arg., but differs in its undershrub habit that is up to 30 cm high (P. pulcher is a shrub up to 1.5 m high), small sized leaves (2–9 × (2–)3–8 mm) (leaves in P. pulcher are 7–28 × 6–17 mm) with conspicuous reddish venation (inconspicuous on both leaf surfaces in P. pulcher) and a red capsule with a papillose-puberulous surface (glabrous in P. pulcher).  Habitat and distribution: This species grows on open limestone hills, at 880–937 m above sea level. Currently, it is known only from the type location Doi Huamot, Tak province in northern Thailand. Etymology: The name of this species is given, based on the location where the plant was first discovered. Vernacular: Ma Kham Pom Din Huamot - มะขามป้อมดินหัวหมด.
Phyllanthus chantaranothaii Pornp., J.Parn. & Hodk., sp. nov. Diagnosis: Phyllanthus chantaranothaii is most similar to P. pulcher, but differs in its puberulous upper leaf surface with white, simple and dendritic hairs and pistillate flowers that have red, narrowly lanceolate sepals with a white long fimbriate margin, puberulous on the outer side and puberulous pedicel, whereas in P. pulcher, the leaf is glabrous on both surfaces and the sepals of the pistillate flower are rhombic-ovate with the upper part greenish and lower part red, glabrous on the outside and glabrous pedicel. Habitat and distribution: This species grows in mixed deciduous forest, at ca. 500 m elevation. It is currently known from the type location near Pa La Ta waterfall and Doi Huamot, Tak province, Thailand. Etymology: The name of this species honours Prof. Dr. Pranom Chantaranothai for his major contributions to plant taxonomy, in general, but especially for his extensive work on Phyllanthus in the Flora of Thailand. Vernacular: Mayom Noi - มะยมน้อย. Pimwadee Pornpongrungrueng, Pranom Chantaranothai, John A.N. Parnell and Trevor R. Hodkinson. 2019. Two New Species of Phyllanthus (Phyllanthaceae) from Thailand. PhytoKeys. 136: 35-44. DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.136.47625 | ||||||||||
| 9:17a | [Botany • 2019] Sarcoglottis neillii (Orchidaceae: Spiranthinae) • A New Species from the Andean Tepui Region of Ecuador and Peru
Abstract Recent exploration of the foothills of the Cordillera del Cóndor, southeastern Ecuador, led to the discovery of an unknown species of Sarcoglottis, and subsequent study in Peruvian herbaria permitted to record it in Peru. Here we describe it as Sarcoglottis neillii and provide a detailed drawing and color photographs taken from live plants. We compare its morphology with that of similar members of Sarcoglottis and conduct a preliminary assessment of its conservation status. Sarcoglottis neillii belongs to a small group of species including S. metallica, S. maroaënsis and S. stergiosii, differing from the former two species in leaf coloration and from the latter in flower size and labellum morphology. The single known Ecuadorian location of S. neillii was destroyed by extensive open pit-mining activities, but the several records from Peru suggest that the species is widespread; three locations occur within the Yanachaga-Chemillén National Park, but information on its actual range and potential threats is lacking and we suggest for it the category of Data Deficient (DD) until further field studies permit a better-informed assessment of its risk status. Keywords: Amazon, Cordillera del Cóndor, Sarcoglottis maroaënsis, Sarcoglottis metallica, Sarcoglottis stergiosii, Yanachaga-Chemillén National Park, Monocots
Sarcoglottis neillii Salazar & Tobar, sp. nov. Type:— ECUADOR. Zamora Chinchipe: cantón El Pangui, estribaciones de la Cordillera del Cóndor, ..., 1600 m, collected 10 April 2017, pressed in cultivation 12 February 2018, Salazar et al. 9978 (holotype QCNE!). Similar to S. metallica (Rolfe) Schltr. and S. maroaënsis G.A.Romero & Carnevali, differing from both in its bright green upper side of leaves densely streaked with silvery white and lower leaf surface homogeneously pale olive green (vs. upper surface of leaves reddish-, brownish-, or chocolate-purplish with irregular, bright green dots and spots and homogeneously purplish-red underside). RECOGNITION. Sarcoglottis neillii is similar in floral structure to S. metallica, from the Guiana Shield and northwestern Amazonia—including its synonym, S. maasorum Pabst (1979: 21, fide Christenson 1999) and S. maroaënsis, from southern Venezuela (Romero-González et al. 2010). However, leaf coloration distinguishes S. neillii from the latter two species. In S. neillii, the upper surface of the leaves is bright green densely streaked with silvery white and its lower surface is homogeneously pale olive green. In contrast, the leaves of S. metallica and S. maroaënsis are reddish-, brownish-, or chocolate-purplish with irregular, bright green dots and spots on the upper surface and homogeneously purplish-red on the underside. Moreover, leaves of S. maroaënsis are ascending and proportionately narrower, elliptic-lanceolate to oblanceolate (vs. horizontal, elliptic to ovate). A further similar species is S. stergiosii, from southern Colombia and Venezuela, distinguished from S. metallica, S. maroaënsis and S. neillii by its much smaller plants and flowers, proportionately narrower perianth segments, and only slightly expanded apical lobe of the labellum (Carnevali & Ramírez 2003).     ETYMOLOGY. We name this species after Dr. David Neill, born in the USA but for many years living and working in Ecuador. He is Director of Conservation and Wildlife Management at the Universidad Estatal Amazónica, Puyo, and founder and Curator of the Herbario Amazónico (ECUAMZ). Dr. Neill has discovered and named many new plant species and several genera, and is a leading researcher of the flora and vegetation of the Andean Tepui Region, one of the less-known biodiversity hotspots of South America. Gerardo A. Salazar, Francisco Tobar, Rolando Jiménez-Machorro, Efraín Freire and Marcia Peñafiel Cevallos. 2019. Sarcoglottis neillii (Orchidaceae: Spiranthinae), A New Species from the Andean Tepui Region of Ecuador and Peru. Phytotaxa. 427(1); 1–8. DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.427.1.1   | ||||||||||
| 9:44a | [Herpetology • 2019] Calamaria strigiventris • A New Species of the Genus Calamaria Boie, 1827 (Squamata: Colubridae) from the Highlands of the Langbian Plateau, Southern Vietnam
Abstract A new species of reed snake, genus Calamaria, is described from the Langbian Plateau in Lam Dong and Khanh Hoa provinces, Vietnam based on a morphological examination of nine specimens. Calamaria strigiventris sp. nov. is distinguished from all congeners by a combination of the following morphological characters: 9 – 11 modified maxillary teeth; rostral wider than high; prefrontal shorter than frontal, touching first two supralabials; mental separated from anterior chin shields; dorsal scales in 13 – 13 – 13 rows, all smooth; single preocular, single postocular; four supralabials, the 2nd and 3rd in contact with the eye; eye diameter smaller than eye-mouth distance; five infralabials; six scales surrounding the paraparietal; prefrontal touching 1st – 2nd supralabials; ventral scales 130 – 183; subcaudal scales 20 – 33, paired; tail relatively short (8.4 – 17.9% of the total length), nearly as thick as body, slowly tapering anteriorly, then abruptly tapering to the tip; dorsal scales reducing to four rows above 17th subcaudal on tail; dorsum uniform gray-brown, venter bright yellow with three interrupted longitudinal black stripes, one wide in the middle and a pair on the lateral edges of the ventrals. The new species is currently known only from two localities on the Langbian Plateau and was recorded from montane elfin evergreen tropical forests of Lam Dong and Khanh Hoa provinces at elevations from 1500 to 2000 m a.s.l. We suggest the new species should be considered as Vulnerable (VU) following the IUCN’s Red List categories. Keywords: Calamaria strigiventris sp. nov.; taxonomy; morphology; Lam Dong; Khanh Hoa; Bidoup-Nui Ba National Park; Hon Ba Nature Reserve        Nikolay Poyarkov, Tan Nguyen, Nikolai L. Orlov and Gernot Vogel. 2019. A New Species of the Genus Calamaria Boie, 1827 from the Highlands of the Langbian Plateau, Southern Vietnam (Squamata: Colubridae). Russian Journal of Herpetology. 26(6); 335–348. DOI: 10.30906/1026-2296-2019-26-6-335-348   |
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