Three new species of Begonia endemic to the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, Palawan

Rosario Rivera Rubite,Hsun-An Yang,Patrick Blanc,Arthur Gregory N Virata,Yoshiko Kono,Llogene B De Layola,Ching-I Peng,Mark Hughes,Grecebio J D Alejandro,Kuo-Fang Chung

doi:10.1186/s40529-015-0099-1

Abstract

Background Begonia is a mega-diverse genus of flowering plants prone to generating micro-endemic species, especially on limestone habitats. During fieldwork in the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, Palawan (Philippines), three species were encountered which did not match any previously described from the region.ResultsFollowing morphological, anatomical, molecular phylogenetic and cytological investigation a hypothesis of three new species is supported. The three new species belong to a clade endemic to Palawan and Borneo.ConclusionsThe limestone habitats in the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park environs support a unique flora. The description of three new species from a small area within the park demonstrates how much remains to be discovered there, and the importance of its continued protection.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40529-015-0099-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

Begonia is a mega-diverse genus of flowering plants prone to generating micro-endemic species, especially on limestone habitats
During recent fieldwork in the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park (PPSRNP) we found three new species of Begonia within a distance of only a few hundred meters, adding these distinct species to the 14 known Begonia species already recorded from Palawan (Hughes and Coyle 2009; Hughes et al 2010, 2011)
Chromosome cytology Recently, Philippine Begonia species belonging to section Diploclinium were transferred to section Baryandra, based on molecular analysis (Rubite et al 2013)

Summary

Introduction

Begonia is a mega-diverse genus of flowering plants prone to generating micro-endemic species, especially on limestone habitats. Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park (PPSRNP) is managed by the City Government of Puerto Princesa in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and is the first national park in the Philippines to be managed at this level. It was designated a World Heritage Site in 1999 (World Heritage Commitee 2000), and voted as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature, boosting tourism as much as 300% (Fitzgerald 2011, 2012). Hughes is located around the mouth of the underground river, growing tenaciously on the vertical limestone

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