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Zamia magnifica (Zamiaceae), a new species endemic to Sierra Norte, Oaxaca, Mexico, is described. Zamia magnifica is characterized by having a rupicolous habit, pendent leaves bearing leaflets that are densely tomentose and pink to caramel in color when emerging, and broad oblong leaflets that are coriaceous in texture with few non-prominent denticulations and ovulate strobili with short (<4 cm) peduncles. It is compared to Z. furfuracea and Z. meermanii, the Mesoamerican Zamia species to which it shares the closest morphological resemblance.
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Zamia multidentata (Cycadales, Zamiaceae), a new arborescent species of Zamia from Acre, Brazil
Zamia multidentata is described and illustrated here as a new species from the Amazon basin, state of Acre, Brazil. The new species shares morphological similarities with the Amazonian species Z. hymenophyllidia, and Z. urep, to which it is compared. The combination of slender (to 6.2 cm) caulescent stems, strongly serrulate elliptic leaflets with long acuminate tips and a pronounced adaxially raised longitudinal crease, as well as seed strobili with long peduncles (15 cm +) and flat megasporophylls distinguish the new species Zamia multidentata from all other known species in the genus.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2140319
- PAR ID:
- 10417855
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Phytotaxa
- Volume:
- 598
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1179-3155
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 21 to 31
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Zamia orinoquiensis Calonje, Betancur & A.Lindstr., a new species from the western Orinoquía region of Colombia is described and illustrated. The species is segregated from and compared to Z. muricata Willd., the latter which is morphologically recharacterized, illustrated, and recircumscribed to include populations from tropical dry forest and tropical moist forests in the Lara-Falcón Formation and the Cordillera de la Costa natural regions of Venezuela, as well as the Serranía de Macuira in La Guajira, Colombia. Zamia orinoquiensis is morphologically distinguished from Z. muricata by its leaves bearing fewer, coriaceous (vs. papyraceous) leaflets, eophylls with 2 (vs. 4) leaflets, pollen strobili that are brown to reddish brown (vs. cream to tan) with larger microsporophylls bearing more numerous microsporangia, and ovulate strobili that are dark brown to black (vs. dark olive green to olive brown) at maturity.more » « less
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Zamia integrifolia L.f. (Cycadales), a threatened cycad native to Florida, depends on 2 native beetle species for pollination: Rhopalotria slossoni (Chevrolat; Coleoptera: Belidae) and Pharaxanotha floridana (Casey; Coleoptera: Erotylidae). Both insects are brood-site pollina- tion mutualists, known to live and feed within the pollen (male) cone. However, for pollination to occur, beetles must also visit ovulate (fe- male) cones, which have been assumed to offer no benefits to them as food or nurseries. We tested the potential for beetle pollinator use of ovulate cones by performing no-choice behavior and feeding trials for adults of both beetle species on both ovulate cones and pollen cones of Z. integrifolia. Rhopalotria slossoni beetles showed greater survival on ovulate cone tissues despite showing no significant difference in to- tal tissue mass consumed between cone sexes. Conversely, P. floridana consumed more tissue mass from ovulate cone scales yet showed no difference in survivorship on ovulate vs. pollen cone scales. Although neither beetle species is found in large numbers on ovulate cones in the field, our laboratory study suggests that both species could po- tentially benefit from feeding on ovulate cone tissues, questioning the standing hypothesis that Z. integrifolia pollination occurs by deceit.more » « less
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null (Ed.)Coevolution between plants and insects is thought to be responsible for generating biodiversity. Extensive research has focused largely on antagonistic herbivorous relationships, but mutualistic pollination systems also likely contribute to diversification. Here we describe an example of chemically-mediated mutualistic species interactions affecting trait evolution and lineage diversification. We show that volatile compounds produced by closely related species of Zamia cycads are more strikingly different from each other than are other phenotypic characters, and that two distantly related pollinating weevil species have specialized responses only to volatiles from their specific host Zamia species. Plant transcriptomes show that approximately a fifth of genes related to volatile production are evolving under positive selection, but we find no differences in the relative proportion of genes under positive selection in different categories. The importance of phenotypic divergence coupled with chemical communication for the maintenance of this obligate mutualism highlights chemical signaling as a key mechanism of coevolution between cycads and their weevil pollinators.more » « less
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Blakea viridis (Melastomataceae: Pyxidantheae), a new species from southern Peru is described. Blakea viridis is characterized by having floral pedicels 5.7–6 cm long, greenish petals 10 mm long, and greenish bracts, which provided the reason for the epithet. This new species is known from only three collections from within the Cusco region of Peru.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.598.1.2
