Morphometric study of the complex Moehringia sect. Pseudomoehringia McNeill from the western Mediterranean

Abstract

Moehringia. sect. Pseudomoehringia McNeill is endemic to the western Mediterranean, having its origin and diversification centre in the Iberian Peninsula and mountains of northern Morocco. Both the relationship with the genus Arenaria as well as the taxonomy within the section have been largely controversial. To disentangle these issues, we conducted a morphometric study using herbarium material. We measured 12 relevant morphological traits from 148 selected herbarium sheets. Data were analyzed using different statistical methods: general linear models, multiple factorial analysis and linear discriminant analysis. We found significant differences between Arenaria balearica and the rest of the genus Moehringia taxa. Within this genus, we identified three well-discriminated species: Moehringia fontqueri, M. glochidisperma and M. intricata. Within M. intricata complex, we discerned virtually no differences amongst most of the subspecies (intricata, giennensis and tejedensis) with the exception of subsp. castellana. We propose: (i) to maintain A. balearica separate from Moehringia sect. Pseudomoehringia; (ii) to consider three species in the section Pseudomoehringia: M. fontqueri, M. glochidisperma and M. intricata; (iii) to recognize only two subspecies within M. intricata complex: subsp. intricata and subsp. castellana. To clarify the taxonomy of this threatened group is of great interest because it might help to prioritize conservation measures.

Keywords:

• Arenaria
• Caryophyllaceae
• threatened species
• Spain
• Tyrrhenian islands
• Morocco

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. M. Martínez-Ortega for helpful comments and D. Nesbitt for the language revision. We also thank Dr. Eva Cañadas for her help the making one of the figures.