Sumacoa (Gesneriaceae), an Arborescent New Genus from the Eastern Andean Slopes of Ecuador

A new neotropical genus, Shuaria, with a single species, S. ecuadorica, is described from the Cordillera del Condor and Amazonian regions of southeastern Ecuador and is placed in the family Gesneriaceae, tribe Beslerieae. The placement of Shuaria in the tribe Beslerieae is strongly supported by molecular sequence data generated from analyses of nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), and the chloroplast DNA trnL intron, trnL-trnF intergenic spacer region. Sequence data were generated for 33 species representing most of the generic diversity from the tribes Beslerieae and Napeantheae. Shuaria is characterized by the following unique combination of relatively uncommon characters in the Gesneriaceae: arborescent habit; opposite leaf arrangement sometimes interrupted by alternate leaves; lepidote trichomes on vegetative and floral structures; small white flowers with a dorsal gibbosity at the base of the corolla tube; and a bivalved septicidally dehiscent capsule. The suite of uncommon characters initially made Shuaria difficult to place in the Gesneriaceae and within a known tribe. Shuaria is restricted to the Ecuadorian provinces of Pastaza, Morona-Santiago, and Zamora-Chinchipe in lowland Amazonian tropical wet forest and in lower montane cloud forest on the western slopes of the Cordillera del Condor. A key and a table are presented for differentiating Shuaria from other related genera.

Abstract— Two new species of Columnea are described from the Andes of Ecuador and Peru. Columnea machupicchuensis J.L.Clark & J.F.Sm. is a subwoody subshrub with tubular purple flowers and is endemic to the forests surrounding the Machu Picchu Inca citadel in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru. Columnea flavostriata J.L.Clark is a subwoody subshrub with tubular yellow flowers with purple striations from southern Ecuador. A broad circumscription was initially published that included Columnea lophophora Mansf. and the two newly described species here. The updated circumscription of three species from what was previously considered one species is based on the first collection of Columnea lophophora since the early 20th century, helping to resolve the circumscription and taxonomic boundaries of collections previously considered conspecific. Morphological characters and molecular phylogenetic analyses based on nrDNA ITS are presented that strongly support the circumscription of these three taxa as separate species. Based on IUCN guidelines, a preliminary conservation status is assigned as Endangered (EN) for Columnea flavostriata, Vulnerable (VU) for Columnea machupicchuensis, and Vulnerable (VU) for Columnea lophophora.

Hybridization has long been considered a source of taxonomic complexity in Rubus. This study uses molecular data to examine natural hybridization between R. caesius, a facultatively agamospermous tetraploid of subgenus Rubus (blackberries) and R. idaeus, a sexual diploid of subgenus Idaeobatus (raspberries). Both species are widespread in Europe, and hybridization between them is postulated to have given rise to numerous species, including R. maximiformis and R. picticaulis. We sequenced the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of R. caesius, R. idaeus, five putative hybrids from Sweden, and one individual each of R. maximiformis and R. picticaulis from Germany. Rubus caesius differs from R. idaeus at 20 nucleotide sites and one insertion/deletion event. The putative hybrids exhibit nucleotide polymorphism additivity at all or most of these sites indicating that gene flow does occur naturally between R. caesius and R. idaeus. For each of five putative hybrids we analyzed...

Exploratory field expeditions to the Chocó forests in the northern Andes of Ecuador resulted in the discovery of a new species of Columnea (Gesneriaceae). Columneagolondrinensis J.L.Clark, sp. nov., is described as a narrow endemic from the cloud forests of Cerro Golondrinas in the Carchi Province near the northern Ecuadorian border with Colombia. The oval leaves with a rust-colored multicellular hispid indumentum, terrestrial subwoody habit and deeply bilabiate dark purple corollas with glandular trichomes differentiate this taxon from all other congeners. Based on IUCN guidelines, a preliminary conservation status of Vulnerable (VU) is provided for C.golondrinensis.

Article

Molecular phylogeny of Cotesia Cameron, 1891 (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) parasitoids associated with Melitaeini butterflies (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Melitaeini)

Regular monitoring and comprehensive study of natural populations rare endangered species, both by classical taxonomy and molecular genetic analysis methods are of considerable importance all over the world. This work has focused at the research of species diversity flora of Uzbekistan using combinations of DNA markers. Currently, there are no universal DNA site for plant species identification. Pairwise sequence alignments and multiple sequence alignments are made using ClustalW program. DNA sequence data were used to verify the taxonomic identity and phylogenetic aspects of the studied representatives the tribe Mentheae (Lamiaceae) collected in Uzbekistan territory. The phylogenetic analyzes of this tribe was reconstructed for 44 species, representing 19 genera using nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region (nrITS), containing ITS1 and ITS4 adopted as an important basis, since it can provide a high resolution of relationships. 15 consensus ITS gene sequences were obtained for studied species in this work and 29 published molecular sequence data from GenBank were used. Dendrograms were constructed using hierarchical clustering with the software Mega X. The parsimony analyses were resulted in an accurate consensus tree. Three major clades was identified within the tribe Mentheae. So, this paper demonstrates the successfully usefulness of DNA technology as a tool for genetic inventory at the species diversity assessment of rare endangered plants.

The Hyloscirtuslarinopygion group is a clade of 16 species of large hylids that inhabit cascading Andean streams. They have brown coloration that, in most species, contrasts with bright marks. Herein morphological and genetic evidence is used to describe a new species of the group from Cordillera del Cóndor, a sub-Andean mountain chain that has phytogeographic affinities with the Guianan Tepuis. The new species is characterized by dark-brown coloration with contrasting bright orange flecks and by the presence of an enlarged and curved prepollex protruding as a spine. The new species is closely related to H.tapichalaca and an undescribed species from the southern Andes of Ecuador. The genetic distance between H.hillisisp. n. and its closest relative, H.tapichalaca, is 2.9% (gene 16S mtDNA). Our phylogeny and a review of recently published phylogenies show that amphibians from Cordillera del Cóndor have close relationships with either Andean or Amazonian species. Amphibians do not show the Condor-Guianan Tepuis biogeographic link that has been documented in plants.

Phylogenetic analysis of restriction site data from the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) was conducted for Abies to evaluate different infrageneric classification schemes. Twenty-eight species representing major morphological subgroups of the genus were included in this study. Thirty-three unambiguous restriction sites were scored from nine enzymes. The data were analysed using parsimony and neighbour-joining methods to infer phylogenetic relationships within the genus. Seven subclades that more or less correspond to previously recognized subgroups were resolved from these analyses: (1) sect. Bracteata, (2) sect. Balsamea (excluding A. kawakamii), (3) sect. Amabilis, (4) an eastern Asian group including sect. Momi, part of sect. Pseudopicea, and A. kawakamii, (5) core of sect. Pseudopicea, (6) a Mediterranean–south-western Asian group containing sect. Abies and sect. Piceaster and (7) sect. Nobilis. Lineages (4) and (5) are likely to be sisters, which are, in turn, sister to lineage (6). The results also suggest that this large Eurasian clade is most closely related to subclade (2) and the monotypic sect. Bracteata is most closely related to sect. Balsamea, but these relationships are supported by bootstrap values of less than 50%. These results indicate that the eastern Asian – North American disjunct section, sect. Balsamea, is monophyletic (96%) when A. kawakamii from Taiwan is excluded; species of sect. Abies and sect. Piceaster (Mediterranean and south-west Asia) are closely related, but the monophyly of each section remains unclear. The results also suggest that sect. Pseudopicea is not monophyletic; species from eastern China and the Qingling Mountains of this section appear to be more closely related to sect. Momi and A. kawakamii than to the other species of the same section. Species of sect. Grandis separate from the remaining species of Abies by having an approximately 500 base pairs longer ITS region. This study provides the first molecular-based phylogenetic hypothesis of Abies to be tested with additional data and broader sampling.

Intergeneric phylogenetic relationships within Apiaceae tribe Oenantheae were investigated using sequence data from the chloroplast DNA psbI–5′trnK(UUU)and nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer regions. One hundred and thirty-one accessions were examined, representing all 17 genera of the tribe and approximately one-half of its species. The cpDNA region includes four intergenic spacers and the rps16 intron and these noncoding loci were analyzed separately to assess their relative utility for resolving relationships. Separate maximum parsimony analyses of the entire psbI–5′trnK(UUU)and ITS regions, each with and without scored indels, yielded concordant trees. Phylogenies derived from maximum parsimony, Bayesian, or maximum likelihood analyses of combined chloroplast and nuclear DNA sequences for 82 accessions were highly resolved, well supported, and consistent. Among the five noncoding loci examined, the trnQ(UUG)–5′rps16 and 3′rps16–5′trnK(UUU)intergenic spacers are the most variable, with the latter contributing the greatest total number of parsimony informative characters relative to its size. The North American genera Atrema , Cynosciadium , Daucosma , Limnosciadium , Neogoezia , Oxypolis , Ptilimnium , and Trepocarpus ally with the western hemispheric and Australasian genus Lilaeopsis in a strongly supported North American Endemics clade that is a sister group to a clade composed primarily of Old World taxa ( Berula sensu lato, Cryptotaenia , Helosciadium , and Sium ). Oxypolis and Ptilimnium are not monophyletic, with the rachis-leaved members of each comprising a clade separate from their compound-leaved congeners. Dispersal-vicariance analysis suggests that the ancestors of the North American Endemics clade probably originated in Canada and the USA or in a broader ancestral area including Mexico and South America.

Plantaginaceae tribe Antirrhineae as revised by Sutton (1988) comprises about 30 genera that have undergone significant taxonomic changes in recent years, many of which have yet to be assessed by detailed phylogenetic analyses, including Kickxia, Nanorrhinum and Chaenorhinum. To examine the monophyly, relationships and rank of Kickxia, Nanorrhinum and Chaenorhinum, we conducted a phylogenetic analyses of the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) and chloroplast DNA (rpl32‐trnL) sequence data, with special focus on the Flora Iranica region. We sampled 22 species of Kickxia s.l. (16 of Kickxia s.s. and 6 of Nanorrhinum), 2 species of Anarrhinum, 12 species of Chaenorhinum, 19 representatives of nine additional genera of Antirrhineae, and several outgroup taxa representing other genera of Plantaginaceae. Parsimony and Bayesian analyses of the two datasets produced almost congruent trees, although taxon sampling differed. Our results indicate that Chaenorhinum can be subdivided into two highly supported groups of species, partially matching two of the currently recognized sections of the genus. Albraunia and Holzneria are nested within the Chaenorhinum clade and should not be recognized as distinct genera. Two clades corresponding to Kickxia sect. Kickxia and Kickxia sect. Valvatae were also highly supported. Our data, whn combined with all other available evidence, support recognition of the clade comprising Kickxia sect. Valvatae at the genus level, as Nanorrhinum. Based on this result, six names are here transferred to Nanorrhinum. A diagnostic key to the seven genera of tribe Antirrhineae known from the Flora Iranica region is also provided.

Kalopanax pictus is a long-lived deciduous pe- rennial tree in the family Araliaceae mainly distributed in the East Asia. In Korea, this species is of ecological and medical importance. Because typical populations of this species are small and distributed in patches, K. pictus has been considered as a narrow habitat species. To understand the genetic di- versity and population structure of this species, the sequence variation of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region was analyzed among 18 different K. pictus populations in the present investigation. The nrDNA ITS sequences of Korean populations inves- tigated in this study showed identical of 616 bp in length, and no any nucleotide variation was found in the entire nrDNA ITS region sequence. This result suggested that the K. pictus populations in Korea might belong to the same isolate, and no mutation was found in the nrDNA ITS region. Compared with other known ITS sequence sources from K. pictus populations, only four variable nucleotide sites were found within the entire ITS region. Very narrow genetic diversity appearing in the population level of K. pictus makes us hypothesize that their relatively isolated habitats. The long-lived traits might be one main reason. However, another probability was that the nr- DNA ITS region might be noneffective in classifying po- pulations of K. pictus. Thus, to further understand the phy- logenetic relationship of K. pictus populations, more samplings should be performed based on more DNA sequences.

Recent field expeditions in southern Ecuador and herbarium research resulted in the discovery of a new species of Diastema (Gesneriaceae). Diastema calcicola J. L. Clark and Moonlight, is described from limestone outcrops in northern Peru and the Cordillera del Cóndor in southern Ecuador. The new species is a lithophytic herb with unbranched shoots and an erect racemose inflorescence. Based on IUCN guidelines, a preliminary conservation assessment as ‘Vulnerable' (VU) is provided for D. calcicola.

Extensive efforts have been made to resolve the phylogeny of the large coffee family (Rubiaceae) based on molecular data. As a result, several small tribes have been described, but the phylogenies and generic delimitations for many of these groups remain unclear. This study focuses on the small tribe Danaideae that belongs to subfamily Rubioideae and whose generic limits have not previously been addressed with molecular data. It is the sole rubiaceous tribe distributed almost entirely in the Western Indian Ocean region, with the exception of the East African Danais xanthorrhoea. The tribe consists of three genera: Danais, Payera (including the monotypic genus Coursiana), and Schismatoclada. We present the first molecular phylogenetic study of Danaideae including representatives from all three genera and using Bayesian and maximum parsimony methods and sequence data from nuclear DNA (nrITS) and chloroplast DNA (petD, psbA-trnH, rpl32-trnLUAG, rpsl6). Our main objectives were to rigorously test the monophyly of Danaideae as currently circumscribed and assess phylogenetic relationships within the tribe. The findings of this study shed light on the colonization history of the tribe. Our analyses reaffirm the monophyly of Danaideae and Danais but reveal the paraphyly of Payera and Schismatoclada. The close relationship between the three Danaideae genera and Coursiana is supported. However, we found very little support for the inclusion of the latter genus in Payera as proposed earlier. The tribe is resolved in two morphologically distinct major lineages, the highly supported Danais clade with lianescent habit (= Danais sensu Buchner & Puff) and the Payera-Schismatoclada clade with arborescent habit. The Malagasy and Mauritian specimens of Danais fragrans are not closely related, and we restrict D. fragrans to the Mauritian taxa and resurrect Danais lyallii Baker to accommodate the Malagasy D. fragrans. According to our analysis, Madagascar is the origin of all species of Danaideae occurring in the Comoro archipelago, East Africa, and Mauritius. The Mauritian and East African Danais each is the result of a single colonization event, while there were at least two independent colonization events to the Comoros.

Phylogenetic relationships in Ephedra (Ephedraceae) inferred from chloroplast and nuclear DNA sequences