Three new species of Cypella (Iridaceae) from South America, and taxonomic delimitation of C. suffusa Ravenna

Abstract

Three new species of Cypella are described and illustrated for the complex of grasslands ecosystems of Rio de La Plata: C. aurinegra, C. guttata and C. ravenniana. The former is endemic to the region of the Taquari river, southern Cerro Largo Department, Uruguay, and is closely related to Cypella fucata and C. luteogibbosa, but can be distinguished from these species by its yellow flowers stained with dark-purple, narrower outer tepals, smaller inner tepals, shorter adaxial crests of style branches, slender filaments, and seeds with smooth testa. Cypella guttata occurs in Artigas and Rivera Departments, northern Uruguay, and in Santana do Livramento Municipality, southwestern Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. This species resembles C. herbertii and C. lapidosa, and can be distinguished by its flowers with central depression showing red spots, filaments narrower and tape-shaped, style branches with shorter adaxial crests, and small transverse stigmatic surface of the abaxial crest. The range of geographic distribution of C. ravenniana includes southern Misiones, and northeast Corrientes Provinces, Argentina, and west and northwest Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. This species can be recognized by its one-flowered spathes, borne on short peduncles. Cypella ravenniana was firstly misidentified as C. suffusa; however, having as base the type and topotypical collections of the latter species, C. suffusa is recognized by its two-flowered spathes borne on long peduncles, and perigone golden-yellow with deep central concavity. Data about phenology, geographic distribution, conservation and dichotomous keys to segregate these three new species from its related species are supplied.

A taxonomic synopsis of Cypella (Iridaceae) in Brazil

“…Altitude records range from 200 to 380 m a.s.l. Flowering and fruiting individuals were collected in October, November and February (Deble et al 2015b).…”

“…Conservation status: The species was categorized as Critically Endangered -CR, B1a,b(iii), B2a,b(iii), D by Deble et al (2015b). There are no sufficient new elements to justify change of categorization, thus conservation status is accepted and maintained.…”

“…Iconography: Deble et al (2015b); Pastori et al (2018). Distribution, habitat, and phenology: Cypella ravenniana occurs in the western and north-western regions of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in the Pampa Biome.…”

“…Distribution, habitat, and phenology: Cypella ravenniana occurs in the western and north-western regions of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in the Pampa Biome. The species also occurs in Argentina (Deble et al 2015b). It grows in stony grasslands, in shallow soils, in altitude records of about 150 m a.s.l.…”

Cypella hauthalii (Kuntze) Foster subsp. opalina Ravenna nueva cita para el Paraguay

“…El género incluye plantas bulbosas pequeñas o medianas, con hojas plegadas, y espatas contiendo dos valvas convolutas, siendo la externa más corta que la interna, la inflorescencia es reducida y contiene por espata una o dos flores que pueden ser amarillas, doradas, anaranjadas, blancas o raramente lilas (Ravenna, 2003). Los tépalos se disponen en dos ciclos, los internos menores con lámina de estructura compleja, tridimensional, con la base en forma de uña, ascendente o no, los externos son oblongos y generalmente pandurados, con base teniendo uña más ancha, formando con la uña de los tépalos internos una concavidad central (Deble et al, 2015a;b;Deble & Alves, 2017;Deble, 2017).…”