Abstract
A new taxon belonging to the genus Burmeistera (Campanulaceae, Lobelioideae) is described from El Quimi Biological Reserve in Morona Santiago Province, southeast Ecuador. Burmeistera quimiensis is characterized by its red-violet stems and veins, spiral phyllotaxy, bullate, ascending leaves with a revolute margin, puberulous abaxial leaf surface, cupuliform hypanthia, and thick-walled white to red-violet fruits with reflexed pedicels. Photos of the new species are given, as well as a distribution map of known collection localities, and its relationships with other species are discussed.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 67-74 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Phytotaxa |
| Volume | 433 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 13 Feb 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:Copyright © 2020 Magnolia Press
Funding
a portion of the Cordillera del Cóndor in southeast Ecuador. The first collection of this species was made in 1993 during a Rapid Assessment Program to the Cordillera del Cóndor. This trip was the first scientific exploration of the area by researchers from Conservation International and Escuela Politécnica Nacional, and the team was supported by the Ecuadorian Army. The group named the collecting area ‘Achupallas Camp’ for the dominance of the many terrestrial bromeliads (Schulenberg & Awbrey 1997). Alwyn H. Gentry, the leading botanist of the expedition, made one collection of this species (Figure 2). More recently, botanical fieldwork was carried out in and around El Quimi Biological Reserve in January 2019. The team was led by botanists from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (Herbarium QCA) with support from the University of Göteborg (Herbarium GB). The expedition resulted in the first collections of flowering material, which allowed for the description of this species. BM and NM thank the University of Missouri—St. Louis and the National Science Foundation for institutional and financial support as part of the project “Quantifying the roles of pollination and post-pollination barriers in flowering plant speciation: a case study of the diverse Neotropical genus Burmeistera (Campanulaceae)” (NSF Grant # 1754802 to NM). Fieldwork was granted by the Ministry of the Environment of Ecuador (003-2019-IC-FLO-DNB/MAE). AJP, NZ and CP express their gratitude to Wilson Paucar (Director of El Quimi Biological Reserve), Juan Carlos Fernandez (Park Ranger at El Quimi Biological Reserve) and the Valle del Quimi community for their support during the field work, as well as the Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación de la República del Ecuador for financial support (SENESCYT, Arca de Noé Initiative, S. R. Ron and O. Torres–Carvajal, Principal Investigators). The authors thank the curators of the herbaria of the Missouri Botanical Garden (MO) and the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador (QCA) for providing access to their collections. Finally, we thank Dr. Carlos Lehnebach, editor, and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions that improved this paper.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Conservation International and Escuela Politécnica Nacional | |
| Ecuadorian Army | |
| Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación de la República del Ecuador | |
| Wilson Paucar | |
| National Science Foundation | 1754802 |
| University of Missouri-St. Louis | |
| Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación |
Keywords
- Andean tepuy
- Biodiversity
- Elfin forest
- Girón-Paute Valley
- Hollín Formation
- Taxonomy