Abstract
A new species of Solanum sect. Solanum from Peru is described here. Solanum pseudoamericanum Särkinen, Gonzáles & S.Knapp sp. nov. is a member of the Morelloid clade of Solanum, and is characterized by the combination of mostly forked inflorescences, flowers with small stamens 2.5 mm long including the filament, and strongly exerted styles with capitate stigmas. The species was first thought to be restricted to the seasonally dry tropical forests of southern Peru along the dry valleys of Río Pampas and Río Apurímac. Results from species distribution modelling (SDM) analysis with climatic predictors identified further potential suitable habitat areas in northern and central Peru. These areas were visited during field work in 2013. A total of 17 new populations across the predicted distribution were discovered using the model-based sampling method, and five further collections were identified amongst herbarium loans. Although still endemic to Peru, Solanum pseudoamericanum is now known from across northern, central and southern Peru. Our study demonstrates the usefulness of SDM for predicting new occurrences of rare plants, especially in the Andes where collection densities are still low in many areas and where many new species remain to be discovered.
Highlights
The tropical Andean hotspot is one of the most species rich but data poor areas of the world (Swenson et al 2012)
We evaluated the relative success of our species distribution modelling (SDM) model predictions based on the mean area under curve (AUC) values of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the cross-validation replicates
Most of the collections of S. pseudoamericanum are the result of our intensive collecting of Solanaceae in Peru in the last two years
Summary
The tropical Andean hotspot is one of the most species rich but data poor areas of the world (Swenson et al 2012). At the meeting point between the northern and central Andes, Peru alone hosts 19,232 plant species, of which 5,581 (29%) are endemic (Brako and Zarucchi 1998; León et al 2006; Jørgensen et al 2011). Many more species remain to be discovered, especially in Peru and Ecuador, where the number of new discoveries per year shows no sign of diminishing (Joppa et al 2011). Estimates based on taxonomic effort over time project that up to 6,400 species of vascular plants remain to be discovered in the area (Joppa et al 2011). The high number of undescribed species is not surprising considering the generally low collection density of vascular plants in the Andes (Distler et al 2009). It is clear that further collections are needed to completely describe the area’s biodiversity and to fully understand species distributions in the Andes
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