Taxonomic status of Begonia promethea (sect. Petermannia, Begoniaceae) in Borneo

Abstract

The rediscovery of Begonia promethea Ridl. for the first time since its description in 1906 led to the discovery that the later described B. beccarii Warb. is synonymous with it and that it belongs in Begonia sect. Petermannia. It is a rare, endangered species known only from three localities, two locations from the Kuching Division, Sarawak, Malaysia and another one from West Kalimantan, Indonesia. A detailed, illustrated description and a distribution map of Begonia promethea are provided. We suggest an IUCN conservation category of EN B2ab(iii). Lectotypes for both names are designated.

Additions to the Begonia Flora of Sarawak, Borneo, I: Twelve New Species and a New Record

“…Similarly, the distribution of Begnonia promethea Ridl. has been extended from Sarawak to Kalimantan (Kiew et al, 2018). Begonia papyraptera, formerly known from Brunei, is noted here as a new record from Sarawak, having been discovered in Tama Abu Permanent Forest.…”

“…For Sarawak, Kiew et al (2015) listed a total of 96 species of the genus. Since then, an additional 50 new species and one new subspecies of Begonia have been described from Sarawak (Julia & Kiew, 2016a, 2016bKiew et al, 2016;Julia et al, 2018;Kiew et al, 2018;Ling et al, 2018;, an average of at least 10 species described per year over the past 7 years. Elsewhere in Borneo, 10 new Begonia species have been described since publication of Kiew et al (2015) (Girmansyah & Susanti, 2015;Low et al, 2015;Girmansyah, 2017;Ardi et al, 2019;Hughes et al, 2020).…”