A new species and molecular phylogeny of Brazilian succulent Euphorbia sect. Brasilienses

Abstract

A new species of Euphorbia sect. Brasilienses V.W. Steinm. & Dorsey is described. Euphorbia tetrangularis Hurbath & Cordeiro is endemic to the Serra de Montevidéu, a part of the Espinhaço Range located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. It differs from other species within the section based on the following characters: 4-ribbed branches, green cyathia, and green cyathial glands with erect appendages. This new species would qualify as critically endangered (CR) according to IUCN criteria. An inferred phylogeny based on a combined dataset of nuclear (ITS1) and plastid regions (psbA-trnH, trnC-ycf6, matK, atpI-atpH, psbJ-petA, trnQ-rps16 × 1) confirms the monophyly of Euphorbia sect. Brasilienses and supports the recognition of E. tetrangularis. The phylogeny also suggests that this group probably underwent a recent radiation.

Key words:

• Campos rupestres
• Espinhaço Range
• Euphorbia subg. Euphorbia
• iselbergs
• rocky caatinga
• systematics

Acknowledgements

We are very thankful to Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP 2015/11812-1) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq 309917/2015-8) for financial support, Alessandro Santana for help with fieldwork, Natanael dos Santos for the illustration and to the reviewers who helped to improve this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2018.1473897

Associate Editor: Steven Dodsworth

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico [grant number CNPq 309917/2015-8]; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo [grant number FAPESP 2015/11812-1].