Phylogenetics and taxonomy of Habenaria sect. Micranthae (Orchidaceae), with the description of an overlooked new species from the Espinhaço mountain range, Eastern Brazil

Abstract

Habenaria sect. Micranthae is one of the 14 Neotropical sections of the genus and in its current delimitation, comprises 14 morphologically heterogeneous species. Previous phylogenetic analyses have shown that the section is polyphyletic, so that both the species composition and the morphological characterization of the section are undefined. Furthermore, among the species associated with the section, H. bahiensis has a long history of obscure taxonomic identity and H. gollmeri of undefined phylogenetic relationships. To revise the taxonomic and morphological circumscription of H. sect. Micranthae and clarify the identity of H. bahiensis and phylogenetic relationships of both these species, we collected fresh samples to generate new sequences of DNA markers (ETS, ITS, matK-trnK, and rps16-trnK), performed Bayesian and parsimony analyses, and reassessed morphological features. Based on our analyses, H. sect. Micranthae is re-circumscribed to include eight phylogenetically and morphologically related species, characterized by their sulcate viscidia. Our results indicate that H. gollmeri belongs to H. sect. Micranthae and to the H. parviflora clade. Because none of the samples collected or examined exactly matched the original description of H. bahiensis, the identity of this species remains elusive. Specimens from the Espinhaço mountain range, previously identified as H. bahiensis, represent a new species described here as H. abscondita. In addition, we lectotypified H. maderoi and H. moritzii and proposed the synonymization of this last species with H. armata.

Key words:

• Habenariinae
• Neotropics
• nomenclature
• Orchidoideae
• sectional classification
• South America
• systematics

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the curators and staff of the AAU, ALCB, AMES, BHCB, BM, CEN, CEPEC, COL, G, HBG, HUEFS, JBB, K, MO, NY, P, RENZ, S, SEL, US and W herbaria for specimen loans, images, or for providing access to their collections; Instituto Estadual de Florestas (IEF Minas Gerais), and Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio) for collecting licences and logistical support; David Sanin for helping to obtain the sample of H. gollmeri; Alessandro Rapini, Cássio van den Berg, João R. Stehmann and Leonardo R.S. Guimarães for helpful suggestions; and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and improvements to the manuscript. GCL thanks FAPEMIG (process 5308/15) and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brazil (CAPES, Finance Code 001) for her doctoral scholarships. JANB also acknowledges a research productivity grant (process 310690/2016-1) received from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Brazil (CNPq).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental material

Supplemental material for this article can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2022.2030424.

Associate Editors: Oscar Pérez-Escobar and Peter D. Olson

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) under Grant [CRA - APQ-03350-16].