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Towards a taxonomic revision of the Papilionoid Legume genus Aldina: lectotypification of a name published in Flora Brasiliensis
Abstract
We have revised species names published in Flora Brasiliensis as part of an ongoing taxonomic revision of the Amazonian genus Aldina Endl. (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae), and found that A. latifolia Spruce ex Benth. was established based on three syntype collections. Therefore, a lectotypification is designated based on Spruce’s most representative collection
We present a taxonomic synopsis of Aldina (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae), a poorly known Neotropical genus of predominantly Amazonian trees with unusual, non-papilionate flowers. Aldina is characterized by the combination of odd-foliolate leaves and flowers with radial symmetry, free and undifferentiated petals, an entire calyx, and free, numerous stamens. Difficulty accessing species in remote areas has led to poor representation in herbaria, and species descriptions based on scant material have led to a doubtful and confused taxonomy. Eighteen species are recognized here: A. aurea , A. auyantepuiensis, A. barnebyana, A. berryi, A. discolor , A. diplogyne , A. elliptica , A. heterophylla, A. insignis , A. kunhardtiana , A. latifolia , A. macrophylla , A. microphylla, A. occidentalis , A. paulberryi , A. petiolulata , A. polyphylla, and A. reticulata . The names A. amazonica , A. latifolia var. pubescens , A. insignis var. retusa, A. stergiosii , A. aquae-negrae , A. rio-negrae , and A. speciosa are newly synonymized. We lectotypify A. discolor , A. heterophylla , A. macrophylla, A. occidentalis , and A. polyphylla, and make a new combination, Aldina auyantepuiensis . All Aldina species are found in the Amazon basin. An identification key for all species, a color plate, diagnostic illustrations, and a map of geographic distribution of the genus are also presented.
Aldina (Leguminosae) is among the very few ecologically successful ectomycorrhizal lineages in a family largely marked by the evolution of nodulating symbiosis. The genus comprises 20 species exclusively distributed in Amazonia and has been traditionally classified in the tribe Swartzieae because of its radial flowers with an entire calyx and numerous free stamens. The taxonomy of Aldina is complicated due to its poor representation in herbaria and the lack of a robust phylogenetic hypothesis of relationship. Recent phylogenetic analyses of matK and trnL sequences confirmed the placement of Aldina in the 50-kb inversion clade, although the genus remained phylogenetically isolated or unresolved in the context of the evolutionary history of the main early-branching papilionoid lineages. We performed maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses of combined chloroplast datasets (matK, rbcL, and trnL) and explored the effect of incomplete taxa or missing data in order to shed light on the enigmatic phylogenetic position of Aldina. Unexpectedly, a sister relationship of Aldina with the Andira clade (Andira and Hymenolobium) is revealed. We suggest that a new tribal phylogenetic classification of the papilionoid legumes should place Aldina along with Andira and Hymenolobium. These results highlight yet another example of the independent evolution of radial floral symmetry within the early-branching Papilionoideae, a large collection of florally heterogeneous lineages dominated by papilionate or bilaterally symmetric flower morphology.
The world's greatest terrestrial stores of biodiversity and carbon are found in the forests of northern South America, where large-scale biogeographic patterns and processes have recently begun to be described(1-4). Seven of the nine countries with territory in the Amazon basin and the Guiana shield have carried out large-scale forest inventories, but such massive data sets have been little exploited by tropical plant ecologists(5-8). Although forest inventories often lack the species-level identifications favoured by tropical plant ecologists, their consistency of measurement and vast spatial coverage make them ideally suited for numerical analyses at large scales, and a valuable resource to describe the still poorly understood spatial variation of biomass, diversity, community composition and forest functioning across the South American tropics(9). Here we show, by using the seven forest inventories complemented with trait and inventory data collected elsewhere, two dominant gradients in tree composition and function across the Amazon, one paralleling a major gradient in soil fertility and the other paralleling a gradient in dry season length. The data set also indicates that the dominance of Fabaceae in the Guiana shield is not necessarily the result of root adaptations to poor soils ( nodulation or ectomycorrhizal associations) but perhaps also the result of their remarkably high seed mass there as a potential adaptation to low rates of disturbance.
The vast extent of the Amazon Basin has historically restricted the study of its tree communities to the local and regional
scales. Here, we provide empirical data on the commonness, rarity, and richness of lowland tree species across the entire
Amazon Basin and Guiana Shield (Amazonia), collected in 1170 tree plots in all major forest types. Extrapolations suggest
that Amazonia harbors roughly 16,000 tree species, of which just 227 (1.4%) account for half of all trees. Most of these are
habitat specialists and only dominant in one or two regions of the basin. We discuss some implications of the finding that
a small group of species—less diverse than the North American tree flora—accounts for half of the world’s most diverse tree
community.
The world's greatest terrestrial stores of biodiversity and carbon are found in the forests of northern South America, where large-scale biogeographic patterns and processes have recently begun to be described. Seven of the nine countries with territory in the Amazon basin and the Guiana shield have carried out large-scale forest inventories, but such massive data sets have been little exploited by tropical plant ecologists. Although forest inventories often lack the species-level identifications favoured by tropical plant ecologists, their consistency of measurement and vast spatial coverage make them ideally suited for numerical analyses at large scales, and a valuable resource to describe the still poorly understood spatial variation of biomass, diversity, community composition and forest functioning across the South American tropics. Here we show, by using the seven forest inventories complemented with trait and inventory data collected elsewhere, two dominant gradients in tree composition and function across the Amazon, one paralleling a major gradient in soil fertility and the other paralleling a gradient in dry season length. The data set also indicates that the dominance of Fabaceae in the Guiana shield is not necessarily the result of root adaptations to poor soils (nodulation or ectomycorrhizal associations) but perhaps also the result of their remarkably high seed mass there as a potential adaptation to low rates of disturbance.
Aldina (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae)
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Leguminosae, Swartzieae et Caesalpinieae
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LITERATURE CITED
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ISSN 1809-5348 (print), ISSN 2358-2847 (online)
Leguminosae, Swartzieae et Caesalpinieae
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