Abstract
We describe Piper kelleyi sp. nov., a new species from the eastern Andes of Ecuador and Peru, named in honor of Dr. Walter Almond Kelley. Piper kelleyi is a member of the Macrostachys clade of the genus Piper and supports a rich community of generalist and specialist herbivores, their predators and parasitoids, as well as commensalistic earwigs, and mutualistic ants. This new species was recognized as part of an ecological study of phytochemically mediated relationships between plants, herbivores, predators, and parasitoids. Compared to over 100 other Piper species surveyed, Piper kelleyi supports the largest community of specialist herbivores and parasitoids observed to date.
Highlights
Documenting plant and phytochemical diversity is recognized as an important component of understanding interactions among plants, herbivores and predators, and for understanding the evolution of biodiversity (Ehrlich and Raven 1964)
The new species occurs in Ecuador and Peru, the distribution model was restricted to Ecuador since the majority of collection data is from the northeast and southeast Andean slopes of Ecuador
Piper kelleyi is a member of the Macrostachys clade of Piper, species of which are most abundant in the shady understory of lowland and cloud forest habitats in the Andes and Central America (Jaramillo et al 2008)
Summary
Documenting plant and phytochemical diversity is recognized as an important component of understanding interactions among plants, herbivores and predators, and for understanding the evolution of biodiversity (Ehrlich and Raven 1964). Evolutionary, and phytochemical studies that focus on the plant genus Piper, and its insect herbivores and mutualists, have revealed a network of complex interactions in which plant phytochemistry has an evolutionary impact across multiple trophic levels (Dyer and Palmer 2004, Miller and Dyer 2009, Wilson et al 2012, Dyer et al 2013). Through the course of these studies, dozens of new species of the Piper specialist lepidopteran herbivore Eois Hübner (Geometridae: Larentiinae) and their parasitoids have been discovered (Grinter et al 2009, Inclán-Luna 2010, Strutzenberger et al 2010, Inclán-Luna and Stireman 2013). Among the Piper species studied far, the one that supports the highest diversity of Eois and associated parasitoids is a previously unrecognized species. In this paper we describe this new species of Piper from Ecuador and Peru, and discuss the diversity of organisms that it sustains
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