A remarkable new species of Pamianthe (Amaryllidaceae) from the Department of Cauca, Colombia

Abstract

A new saxicolous species of Amaryllidaceae tentatively assigned to the tribe Clinantheae, Pamiantheecollis Silverst., Meerow & Sánchez-Taborda, is described from the western slope of the Cordillera Occidental in the department of Cauca, Colombia. The new species differs from the two hitherto known species of Pamianthe in its yellow flowers and in its nearly obsolete perianth tube. The near loss of the perianth tube may be correlated with a change in pollinator. The new species lacks a bulb; it produces a large number of winged seeds that are wind-dispersed. A key to the species of Pamianthe is provided. This is the first record of the genus Pamianthe for Colombia. The phylogenetic position of the genus Pamianthe is discussed.

Phylogenomics of the Andean Tetraploid Clade of the American Amaryllidaceae (Subfamily Amaryllidoideae): Unlocking a Polyploid Generic Radiation Abetted by Continental Geodynamics

“…Only the position of Pamianthe retains ambiguity ( Figures 2 – 4 ), which in the nuclear phylogenomic data is eliminated by the coalescent species tree ( Figure 3 ) and supermatrices with less missing data ( Supplementary Figures 3 , 4 ). Plastome data support a third possible resolution for this enigmatic genus of three epiphytic or lithophytic species ( Meerow et al, 2019 ), as sister to Eucharideae ( Figure 4 ). This is discussed below under “Clinantheae.” Chase et al (2009) recognized both tribes Eucharideae and Stenomesseae (which we consider synonymous), but not Clinantheae.…”

“…The first branch, Pamianthe , is difficult to parse biogeographically because the exact locality of P. peruviana in Peru is unknown, and we have no sequence data for the Ecuadorian endemic P. parviflora Meerow ( Meerow, 1984 ). Meerow and Nakamura (2019) and Meerow et al (2019) proposed that the genus, with its broad range from Colombia to Bolivia may indeed represent a relictual epiphytic and lithophytic lineage that colonized cloud forests of the western Andes that have been in retreat since at least the Miocene and have also suffered large-scale and largely undocumented destruction ( Dillon et al, 1995 ; Mutke et al, 2017 ). Both Clinanthus and its sister genus Paramongaia originated in the Desert Province, and diversified in the Ecuadorian, Paramo, Puna, and Yungas Provinces, largely within Peru, both dispersing into Bolivia, but only Clinanthus into southern Peru and Ecuador, although not until the Pliocene ( Figure 9 ).…”