Abstract
A new genus Kindia (Pavetteae, Rubiaceae) is described with a single species, Kindia gangan, based on collections made in 2016 during botanical exploration of Mt Gangan, Kindia, Republic of Guinea in West Africa. The Mt Gangan area is known for its many endemic species including the only native non-neotropical Bromeliaceae Pitcairnia feliciana. Kindia is the fourth endemic vascular plant genus to be described from Guinea. Based on chloroplast sequence data, the genus is part of Clade II of tribe Pavetteae. In this clade, it is sister to Leptactina sensu lato (including Coleactina and Dictyandra). K. gangan is distinguished from Leptactina s.l. by the combination of the following characters: its epilithic habit; several-flowered axillary inflorescences; distinct calyx tube as long as the lobes; a infundibular-campanulate corolla tube with narrow proximal section widening abruptly to the broad distal section; presence of a dense hair band near base of the corolla tube; anthers and style deeply included, reaching about mid-height of the corolla tube; anthers lacking connective appendages and with sub-basal insertion; pollen type 1; pollen presenter (style head) winged and glabrous (smooth and usually hairy in Leptactina); orange colleters producing a vivid red exudate, which encircle the hypanthium, and occur inside the calyx and stipules. Kindia is a subshrub that appears restricted to bare, vertical rock faces of sandstone. Fruit dispersal and pollination by bats is postulated. Here, it is assessed as Endangered EN D1 using the 2012 IUCN standard. High resolution LC-MS/MS analysis revealed over 40 triterpenoid compounds in the colleter exudate, including those assigned to the cycloartane class. Triterpenoids are of interest for their diverse chemical structures, varied biological activities, and potential therapeutic value.
Highlights
Plant conservation priorities are often poorly represented in national and global frameworks due to a lack of publicly available biodiversity data to inform conservation decision-making (Corlett, 2016; Darbyshire et al, 2017), despite the fact that one in five plant species are estimated to be threatened with extinction mainly due to human activities (Brummitt et al, 2015; Bachman et al, 2016)
Employing chloroplast sequence data of tribe Pavetteae, largely based on De Block et al (2015), placed the new Rubiaceae from Mt Gangan as sister to the rest of Clade II of that study, in which three genera, Leptactina, Dictyandra Hook.f. and Coleactina N.Hallé were traditionally maintained, the two latter genera were recently subsumed into Leptactina s.l
The new Rubiaceae from Mt Gangan was consistent with these genera, especially Leptactina s.s. and Coleactina, yet showed significant character disjunctions, sufficient to support generic status
Summary
Plant conservation priorities are often poorly represented in national and global frameworks due to a lack of publicly available biodiversity data to inform conservation decision-making (Corlett, 2016; Darbyshire et al, 2017), despite the fact that one in five plant species are estimated to be threatened with extinction mainly due to human activities (Brummitt et al, 2015; Bachman et al, 2016). Botanical exploration and new species discovery in Guinea. The other species new to science that were published in the period 1960–2010 were based on specimens collected in the French Colonial period, e.g., Phyllanthus felicis Brunel (1987) and Clerodendrum sylvae Adam (1974). In recent years, this has begun to change as botanical exploration, often associated with environmental impact assessments for more environmentally responsible mining companies such as Rio Tinto (Harvey et al, 2010; Magassouba et al, 2014), has restarted. Many of the new species being described are narrow endemics and are threatened by habitat clearance for subsistence agriculture, open-cast mining, urban expansion, quarrying (Couch et al, 2014) and invasive species (Cheek et al, 2013)
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