The shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora.
Paganuccia is described as a new genus of Rubiaceae, only known so far from two collections from the continental dunes in the São Francisco River basin, Bahia, north‐eastern Brazil. The morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses based on nuclear (ETS, ITS) and plastid (atpB‐rbcL, petD, rps16, trnL‐trnF) sequence data, support the recognition of a new genus within the Spermacoce clade (tribe Spermacoceae). Paganuccia is one of several well‐supported lineages, still largely unresolved with respect to each other. We considered that its isolated position in combination with the unique set of morphological character states and biogeographic evidence can fully support its recognition as a new genus. We have provided a formal description of Paganuccia, including SEM observations of the fruit, pollen, and inflorescence structure, together with a distribution map and comments on its conservation. Additionally, the new genus is compared with the other climbing taxa in the tribe, and a key for all the genera of the Spermacoceae in the Americas is provided.
Spermacoceae is the largest predominantly herbaceous lineage in the Rubiaceae, and regarded as one of its most taxonomically complex and controversial tribe, especially regarding generic delimitation. Molecular phylogenies have established the concept of a broadly circumscribed Spermacoceae, which includes the genera traditionally associated with the tribe, i.e., the Spermacoce clade, and the former Hedyotideae and Manettieae. A major challenge in the Spermacoce clade is related to the delimitation of Borreria and Spermacoce, which appeared intermingled with several smaller and morphologically well-defined genera in more recent phylogenies, such as the Brazilian endemic Psyllocarpus. One of its species, P. densifolius, diverges morphologically from the others, as preliminary phylogenetic analyses have shown that it is not closely related to Psyllocarpus nor any other genus in the Spermacoce clade. We conducted a broad phylogenetic analysis, including ca. 63% of the genera in the Spermacoceae, using a variety of approaches to address incongruence among markers and lack of resolution and/or low support for branches, to accurately assess its position. We used nuclear ribosomal (ITS) and plastid (rps16 intron, trnL-F intergenic spacer) DNA regions for Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood analyses, as well as species tree inference. We identified incongruence not only between nuclear and plastid DNA but also between the plastid regions. We also showed that the topologies derived from the multispecies coalescent diverged from that of the concatenated analysis, even though the position of P. densifolius, as sister to the clade formed by the remaining Spermacoceae, remained stable across different datasets and inference methods. We here propose the recognition of the new genus Diadorimia to accommodate P. densifolius, which can be characterized by its cespitose habit arising from a well-developed, woody subterranean system, triangular stipules with margins bearing four small lobes, heterostylous flowers subtended by a pair of hyaline bracteoles, double reticulate pollen grains, and capsules with longitudinal-oblique dehiscence, with the two valves forming one single caducous diaspore keeping their respective seed trapped inside. We provide a taxonomic treatment with a key to the heterostylous genera of the Spermacoceae occurring in the Americas, a description of the new genus, and the new combination of its type, as well as comments on its distribution and conservation.
Two new species of Psyllocarpus sect. Psyllocarpus are here described and illustrated. Psyllocarpus bahiensis and Psyllocarpus scatignae, from the campo rupestre s. l. of Bahia and Minas Gerais states, respectively. We provide comments on their distribution, habitat, conservation status, and taxonomy. In addition, we analysed floral, fruit, and seed micromorphology, as well as pollen grains of the new species. We also provide an updated identification key to the species of P. sect. Psyllocarpus.
An updated description of Galianthe vaginata is here presented. This species is endemic to the Serra da Mantiqueira and Serra do Mar, Southeast Brazil, and occurs in remnants of the Atlantic forest phytogeographic domain, in the campos de altitude, rocky outcrops, and along trails in montane rainforest. Its bracts, short-styled flowers, fruits and seeds are described and illustrated for the first time. The conspicuously winged stems and the pubescent stipules constitute a combination of diagnostic characters useful for distinguishing G. vaginata from G. polygonoides. Its conservation status is reassessed based on recent collections.
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