Abstract
Gymnopodium floribundum Rolfe (Polygonaceae) is a shrub or a small tree inhabiting the tropical dry forests of Mesoamerica. A detailed examination of herbarium specimens for the taxonomic treatment of the genus for Flora Mesoamericana allowed us to find a gathering from Toledo, Belize that showed a different set of morphological characters from those of G. floribundum. We then carried out a morphological and molecular study to test if the Toledo plant was a different taxon. Morphological characters such as glandular trichomes on leaves, inflorescences and flowers, as well as longer inflorescences and perianth segments, are unique for the Toledo plant. The delimitation between it and G. floribundum was also supported by molecular characters obtained from ITS and LFY nuclear markers. The Toledo plant is described here as a new species, G. toledense Ancona & Ortiz-Díaz, based on diagnostic characters of morphology and the ITS and LFY markers. It is endemic to southern Belize, in the biogeographic region of Eastern Central America, and is assessed according to IUCN categories and criteria as Critically Endangered. A morphological diagnosis and description, key, illustration and distribution map for G. toledense are included. Citation: Ancona J. J., Ortiz-Díaz J. J., Tun-Garrido J., Monserrat Ferrer M. & Pinzón Esquivel J. P. 2018: Gymnopodium toledense (Polygonaceae), a new species from Belize resolved by morphology and distance analyses of molecular data. – Willdenowia 48: 433–441. doi: https://doi.org/10.3372/wi.48.48313 Version of record first published online on 1 December 2018 ahead of inclusion in December 2018 issue.
Highlights
Gymnopodium floribundum Rolfe is an important component of the seasonal forests and savannahs of southern Mexico, Guatemala and Belize from sea level up to 1000 m (Miranda 1952; Flores & Espejel 1994; Goodwin & al. 2013)
Ancona & al.: Gymnopodium toledense from Belize south of Belize, represented by a gathering made in 1997, showed a set of characters in leaf, inflorescence, flower and fruit different from those described for G. floribun dum; only three specimens of the same population were available
Due to the limited collections, we wanted to look for new characters to support the morphological ones, so we carried out a molecular study using the nuclear markers ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2 as well as lfy
Summary
JUAN JOSÉ ANCONA1, JUAN JAVIER ORTIZ-DÍAZ1*, JUAN TUN-GARRIDO1, MIRIAM MONSERRAT FERRER2 & JUAN PABLO PINZÓN ESQUIVEL1. We carried out a morphological and molecular study to test if the Toledo plant was a different taxon Morphological characters such as glandular trichomes on leaves, inflorescences and flowers, as well as longer inflorescences and perianth segments, are unique for the Toledo plant. The delimitation between it and G. floribundum was supported by molecular characters obtained from ITS and LFY nuclear markers. The Toledo plant is described here as a new species, G. toledense Ancona & Ortiz-Díaz, based on diagnostic characters of morphology and the ITS and LFY markers.
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