A nuclear phylogenomic study of the angiosperm order Myrtales, exploring the potential and limitations of the universal Angiosperms353 probe set

PREMISE: To further advance the understanding of the species- rich, economically and ecologically important angiosperm order Myrtales in the rosid clade, comprising nine families, approximately 400 genera and almost 14,000 species occurring on all continents (except Antarctica), we tested the Angiosperms353 probe kit.METHODS: We combined high- throughput sequencing and target enrichment with the Angiosperms353 probe kit to evaluate a sample of 485 species across 305 genera (76% of all genera in the order).RESULTS: Results provide the most comprehensive phylogenetic hypothesis for the order to date. Relationships at all ranks, such as the relationship of the early-diverging families, often reflect previous studies, but gene conflict is evident, and relationships previously found to be uncertain often remain so. Technical considerations for processing HTS data are also discussed.CONCLUSIONS: High- throughput sequencing and the Angiosperms353 probe kit are powerful tools for phylogenomic analysis, but better understanding of the genetic data available is required to identify genes and gene trees that account for likely incomplete lineage sorting and/or hybridization events

Extending our scientific reach in arboreal ecosystems for research and management

The arboreal ecosystem is vitally important to global and local biogeochemical processes, the maintenance of biodiversity in natural systems, and human health in urban environments. The ability to collect samples, observations, and data to conduct meaningful scientific research is similarly vital. The primary methods and modes of access remain limited and difficult. In an online survey, canopy researchers (n = 219) reported a range of challenges in obtaining adequate samples, including ∼10% who found it impossible to procure what they needed. Currently, these samples are collected using a combination of four primary methods: (1) sampling from the ground; (2) tree climbing; (3) constructing fixed infrastructure; and (4) using mobile aerial platforms, primarily rotorcraft drones. An important distinction between instantaneous and continuous sampling was identified, allowing more targeted engineering and development strategies. The combination of methods for sampling the arboreal ecosystem provides a range of possibilities and opportunities, particularly in the context of the rapid development of robotics and other engineering advances. In this study, we aim to identify the strategies that would provide the benefits to a broad range of scientists, arborists, and professional climbers and facilitate basic discovery and applied management. Priorities for advancing these efforts are (1) to expand participation, both geographically and professionally; (2) to define 2–3 common needs across the community; (3) to form and motivate focal teams of biologists, tree professionals, and engineers in the development of solutions to these needs; and (4) to establish multidisciplinary communication platforms to share information about innovations and opportunities for studying arboreal ecosystems

Melastomataceae of the World

This Florida Museum of Natural History of Web site provides a convenient, centralized clearinghouse for information on the Melastomataceae. Created to promote research on this common yet understudied family of tropical plants, the Melastomataceae of the World Web site provides images and background information, a phylogenetic overview, links to related research projects, contact information for melastomatologists working around the world, bibliographic references, links to useful online databases, and much more. Well organized and remarkably comprehensive, this Web site really does a service to Melastomataceae research

THE RESURRECTION AND LECTOTYPIFICATION OF TETRAZYGIA FADYENII (MELASTOMATACEAE: MICONIEAE): A HUMMINGBIRD-POLLINATED TREELET ENDEMIC TO JAMAICA

Volume: 20Start Page: 877End Page: 88

Vaccinium carmesinum M. N. Tamayo & P. W. Fritsch 2022, sp. nov.

<i>Vaccinium carmesinum</i> M.N.Tamayo & P.W.Fritsch, <i>sp. nov.</i> (Figs. 1–2) <p> <i>Type:—</i> PHILIPPINES. Mindanao Island, Bukidnon Province, Municipality [City] of Malaybalay, Barangay Kibalabag, Mt. Limbawon, [Mt. Tago Range,] accessory trail to peak, 8.26217°N, 125.18055°E, 1546 m elevation, 10 June 2019, <i>Plants and Lichens of the Southern Philippines Survey 611</i> (holotype PNH!, isotypes A!, BRIT BRIT572077!, CAS!, CMUH!, NY!).</p> <p> <i>Paratypes:—</i> PHILIPPINES. Mindanao Island: Province of Bukidnon, Municipality [City] of Malaybalay, Barangay Kibalabag, Mt. Limbawon, [Mt. Tago Range,] open area with <i>Pandanus</i>, 8.27577°N, 125.18333°E, 1832 m elevation, 30 June 2015, <i>Peter W. Fritsch 2081</i> (BRIT BRIT554025!, CAS 490415!); Mt. Kiamo summit, [Mt. Tago Range,] on ridge of heathland scrub, 8.2563°N, 125.14799°E, 1760 m elevation, 7 May 2014, <i>Darin S. Penneys 2377</i> (BRIT BRIT554030!, CAS 490401!).</p> <p> <i> <i>Diagnosis:—</i> Vaccinium carmesinum</i> resembles <i>V. platyphyllum</i> Merrill (1917: 294) and <i>V. luzoniense</i> S. Vidal (1886: 168), but differs from the former by longer and wider leaves, longer racemes, longer bracts, glabrous corollas, and glabrescent fruits, and from the latter by longer petioles, leaf glands distributed along the length of the blade margin, a glabrous inflorescence rachis, and lanate filaments.</p> <p> <b> <i>Description:</i> —</b> Terrestrial leaning shrub or tree, evergreen, 2–5 m tall, sparsely branched. <i>Branchlets</i> glabrous, red when young, grayish brown at maturity, terete, 3–8 mm wide, lenticellate; perennating buds compressed-ovoid, 1.5–2.5 mm long; bud scales overlapping with minutely ciliate margins. <i>Leaves</i> persistent on older branchlets, spirally and evenly arranged, slightly overlapping, internodes 1–5 cm long; petiole crimson red, in cross section rounded abaxially and slightly raised adaxially, 10–18 × 1–5 mm, glabrous; lamina broadly elliptic, ovate, or rarely subrounded, with the larger leaves on each branchlet 7–15 × 0.4–9 cm, coriaceous, both surfaces reddish when young turning pale green abaxially and glossy adaxially, <i>in sicco</i> both surfaces light brown to ferrugineous, without punctae, glabrous; midvein flattened or sunken adaxially, strongly raised abaxially, secondary veins 3 or 4 on each side of midvein with first pair arising from base and remainder along midvein, arc-ascending, abaxially raised, adaxially sunken, tertiary veins faintly evident or obscure, base cuneate to truncate, margin entire, weakly revolute, apex slightly acuminate, marginal glands sunken, 10–18 per side, scattered along length of margin but more concentrated towards the apex, 0.3– 0.5 mm wide. <i>Inflorescence</i> pseudo-terminal or terminal, racemose, developing beyond confines of perennating bud, 1 per axil, 6–8 cm long at anthesis, densely 10- to 12-flowered; peduncle and rachis crimson red, slightly ridged, terete, glabrous; flower bracts caducous, crimson red, dark brown <i>in sicco</i>, foliaceous, ovate to elliptic, planar or occasionally cucullate, 6–15 × 2.5–3.5 mm, coriaceous, glabrous, margin entire, ciliolate, with several yellowish or reddish globose glands, 0.15–0.20 mm diameter mainly on basal half and with cilia ca. 0.1 mm mainly on apical third, apex acute to obtuse with a terminal gland. <i>Pedicel</i> 3.5–15 × 0.5–0.9 mm at anthesis, terete, spreading, glabrous, occasionally with 1 or 2 globose glands near base or occasionally on apical half, ebracteolate. <i>Flowers</i> articulated at junction with pedicel, 3.5–12 mm long. <i>Hypanthium</i> crimson red, cupuliform, 1.5–2 × 2–2.5 mm, white-hirsutulous with trichomes 0.10–0.15 mm long; calyx limb 1.0– 1.2 mm long, white-hirsutulous; calyx lobes broadly triangular, 0.8–1.2 mm long, white hirsutulous, margin entire, often ciliolate, apex acute, with a prominent greenish (reddish <i>in sicco</i>) globose sessile terminal gland ca. 0.25 mm diameter. <i>Corolla</i> broadly acute, lustrous white, conical-urceolate, 7–12 × 2.5–6 mm, outside glabrous, inside white-lanate especially on upper and lower third, trichomes 0.5–1 mm long; corolla lobes 5 or 6, 1–2 × 1–1.5 mm, apex acute to obtuse. <i>Stamens</i> 8 to 10, monomorphic, distinct, 5.5–7.2 mm long; filaments white, straight, gradually dilated at base, 3.5–4.8 mm long, pink towards base, densely white-lanate with trichomes 0.5–1 mm long; anthers 2–2.4 mm long, cells 1.4–1.6 mm long, echinulate, tubules parallel, narrowly cylindrical, distinctly narrower than cells, opening by oblique ventrally oriented apical pores, 0.6–0.8 mm long, pore apex rounded, spurs absent. <i>Ovary</i> 5- or 6-locular but appearing pseudo-10- to 12-locular with false partitions extending ca. 1.5 mm from inner wall; ovules in two columns per locule. <i>Disk</i> disciform, ca. 2 mm in diameter, puberulent, margin shallowly ridged. <i>Style</i> reddish, not exserted from corolla, 10–12 mm long, glabrous. <i>Fruit</i> on pedicels 1.4–2.1 cm long, deep purple, dark brown or reddish <i>in sicco</i>, globose, slightly ridged, 4–6 × 4–6 mm, glabrescent except for minute cilia on calyx lobe margins; persistent calyx lobes erect; disk ca. 4.5 mm in diameter. <i>Seeds</i> numerous, minute, brown, ca. 0.8 mm long.</p> <p> <i> <i>Distribution and Habitat:—</i> Vaccinium carmesinum</i> is endemic to two mountains (Mt. Kiamo and Mt. Limbawon) in Mt. Tago Range, Mindanao, growing in tropical lower montane rainforest to upper montane rainforest. Populations of <i>V. carmesinum</i> were mostly found near summits where they thrive on volcanic-igneous or clay substrate with abundant humus. They also occur in areas of open shaded mossy forests, or on ridges covered in heathland scrub. Paratypes of the new species were collected on ca. 10–30% west-facing slopes.</p> <p> <i>Etymology:—</i> The epithet <i>carmesinum</i> is derived from the Greek word for crimson (blood red), as depicted by its crimson red petioles, floral bracts, peduncle, rachis, pedicels, hypanthium, and calyces. Moreover, a crimson red stain is extracted in notable quantity when the plants are soaked in a denatured alcohol solution.</p> <p> <b> <i>Phenology:</i> —</b> Flowering in June. Fruiting from January to May.</p> <p> <i>Proposed Conservation Status:—</i> Mt. Tago Range has not been extensively explored botanically, which results in uncertainty as to the conservation status of the species. This range is a non-protected area; thus, the extent of occurrence and area of occupancy for the species cannot be assessed. There are only two populations currently known. Hence, we recommend a conservation status of data deficient (DD) (IUCN Standards and Petitions Committee 2019).</p> <p> <i>Discussion:—</i> In its combination of morphological characters, <i>Vaccinium carmesinum</i> matches no other species treated in relevant taxonomic treatments. In the artificial key to the species of Philippine <i>Vaccinium</i> (Copeland 1930), <i>V. carmesinum</i> keys to <i>V. platyphyllum</i>. The new species differs from <i>V. platyphyllum</i> by having longer and wider leaves (7–15 × 0.4–9 cm vs. 11–14 cm × 5–7 cm), longer racemes (6–8 cm vs. 4–6 cm), longer bracts (6–15 mm vs. ca. 8 mm), longer pedicels (3.5–15 mm vs. ca. 8 mm) that are glabrous (vs. slightly pubescent) and ebracteolate (vs. bracteolate), a glabrous (vs. sparsely pubescent) corolla outside, longer anthers (2.0– 2.3 mm vs. ca. 1.5 mm), and longer (4.0–6.0 mm vs. ca. 3 mm) and glabrescent (vs. pubescent) fruits (Merrill 1917).</p> <p> <i>Vaccinium carmesinum</i> can be distinguished from all other species of Philippine <i>Vaccinium</i> by its leaves, which are the widest of any <i>Vaccinium</i> in the Philippines. The pedicels are also notably ebracteolate and have 0 to 2 globose glands near the base or occasionally on the apical half. These glands might be homologous with bracteoles (typically two per pedicel in <i>Vaccinium</i>) with a reduction in size and/or number. Copeland (1930) mentioned pedicel glands in <i>V. luzoniense</i>. Unfortunately, this character was not thoroughly described for the other Philippine species in former publication where the absence of bracteoles in a specimen is noted as “unobserved” (i.e. Sleumer 1966 –1967).</p> <p> <i>Vaccinium carmesinum</i> is a member of <i>V.</i> section <i>Bracteata</i> Nakai in Nakai & Koidzumi (1927: 234) sensu Sleumer (Sleumer 1966 –1967) as based on the combination of many-flowered racemose inflorescences, caducous foliaceous bracts, absence of a membranaceous wing at the sinuses of the corolla, and anthers that open by short introrse slits or terminal pores (Sleumer 1966 –1967; Co <i>et al</i>. 2002; Salares <i>et al</i>. 2018). In Sleumer’s (1966 –1967) key to the Malesian <i>V.</i> section <i>Bracteata</i>, <i>V. carmesinum</i> keys to <i>V. luzoniense</i>. <i>Vaccinium carmesinum</i> differs from <i>V. luzoniense</i>, however, by having longer petioles (10–18 mm vs. ca. 10 mm), longer and wider leaves (7–15 × 0.4–9 cm vs. 7–9 cm × 3–4.5 cm), with leaf glands distributed along the length of the leaf margin (vs. with merely a pair of glands near the base), glabrous rachis (vs. with capitate-glandular trichomes), white (vs. red) corollas, and densely lanate (vs. sparsely pubescent) filaments (Vidal 1886; Copeland 1930).</p> <p> In the key to the Bornean species of <i>Vaccinium</i> (Argent 2018), <i>V. carmesinum</i> keys to <i>V. sarawakense</i> subsp. <i>montanum</i> Argent (2018: 108) but differs from it by having an inflorescence with fewer flowers (10- to 12-flowered vs. 7- to 20-flowered), glabrous rachis (vs. densely covered by short brown curved glandular trichomes), calyx lobes with a sessile terminal gland (vs. absent), white (vs. pale pink) corollas, and the absence of anther spurs (vs. presence).</p> <p> In the sectional treatment of <i>Vaccinium</i> (Vander Kloet and Dickinson 2009), <i>V. carmesinum</i> can be treated as a member of <i>V</i>. section <i>Euepigynium</i> Schlechter (1919: 174) by its evergreen habit, monomorphic perennating buds, each with more than two scales, one perennating bud per leaf axil, plinerved leaf blade venation, entire leaf blade margin, peduncle longer than pedicels, calyx tube completely fused to the ovary, and pseudo-10-locular ovary. However, the boundaries of <i>V.</i> section <i>Euepigynium</i> and other sections of Malesian <i>Vaccinium</i> delimited by Vander Kloet and Dickinson (2009) were vaguely defined (i.e. the species included in each section are not provided). Hence, the sectional limits of <i>Vaccinium</i> in Malesia need further study.</p> <p> During the process of diagnosing <i>Vaccinium carmesinum</i> as distinct from other Philippine species, we have become cognizant of problems in the taxonomy of the Philippine species. For example, <i>V. ilocanum</i> Merrill (1919: 441) and <i>V. rizalense</i> Merrill (1925: 43) were synonymized under <i>V. platyphyllum</i> by Copeland (1930) but characters seem divergent among these species and the justification relied mainly on macroscopic characters. A detailed study of this complex is currently in progress with emphasis on, e.g., ovary indumentum, corolla surfaces, and stamen characters.</p>Published as part of <i>Tamayo, Maverick N., Coritico, Fulgent P., Amoroso, Victor B., Penneys, Darin S., Tandang, Danilo N. & Fritsch, Peter W., 2022, Vaccinium carmesinum (Ericaceae), a new species of blueberry from Mt. Tago Range, Mindanao Island, Philippines, pp. 173-180 in Phytotaxa 533 (3)</i> on pages 174-178, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.533.3.3, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/6048443">http://zenodo.org/record/6048443</a&gt

Rehderodendron truongsonense (Styracaceae), a new species from Vietnam

Rehderodendron truongsonense, a new species from Vietnam, is described and illustrated. In the treatment of the Styracaceae for the Flore du Cambodge, du Laos, et du Viêtnam, specimens of this species were recognized as R. macrocarpum Hu. These specimens clearly differ from R. macrocarpum, however, as well as from all other species of Rehderodendron (where these characters are known) by, e.g., an evergreen ver- sus deciduous habit, fewer secondary veins of the leaf blade, shorter inflorescences and corolla lobes, large and conspicuous lowermost bracteoles, the presence of eight ovules per carpel, and a fruit with ca. 10 to 20 ribs that are indistinct. Phylogenetic analysis based on five chloroplast DNA regions (clpP-psbB, ndhD-psaC-ndhE-ndhG, rpl22-rps19, rps18-rpl20, and psbI-trnS-GCU) placed the new species as nested within Rehderodendron and sister to R. gongshanense. This new species is endemic to the Truong Son Mountain Range, from which the epi- thet is derived, and we assign it an IUCN Red List preliminary status as Near Threatened.

Bimodal Pollination Systems in Andean Melastomataceae Involving Birds, Bats, and Rodents

Floral adaptation to a single most effective functional pollinator group leads to specialized pollination syndromes. However, adaptations allowing for pollination by two functional groups (bimodal pollination systems) remain a rarely investigated conundrum. We tested whether floral scent and nectar traits of species visited by two functional pollinator groups indicate specialization on either of the two pollinator groups or adaptations of both (bimodal systems). We studied pollination biology in four species of Meriania (Melastomataceae) in the Ecuadorian Andes. Pollinator observations and exclusion experiments showed that each species was effectively pollinated by two functional groups (hummingbirds/bats, hummingbirds/rodents, flowerpiercers/rodents), nectar composition followed known bird preferences, and scent profiles gave mixed support for specialization on bats and rodents. Our results suggest that nectar-rewarding Meriania species have evolved stable bimodal pollination strategies with parallel adaptations to two functional pollinator groups. The discovery of rodent pollination is particularly important given its rarity outside of South Africa.(VLID)365986