Three new rarely collecTed or endangered species of annonaceae from Venezuela

three new species of Annonaceae from Venezuela are described here: Cremastosperma venezue­ lanum Pirie, Klarobelia subglobosa Chatrou, and Pseudomalmea wingfieldii Chatrou. All three are represented by few collections (in comparison to those of other Neotropical species of Annonaceae). Klarobelia subglobosa and P. wingfieldii in particular are only known from a few individual speci­ mens collected in areas vulnerable to habitat destruction. iUCN threat categories are assigned to these species.

iNtroDUCtioN Klarobelia, Pseudomalmea, and Cremastosperma are three Neotropical genera of the flowering plant family Annonaceae.Klarobelia and Pseudomalmea include a number of species originally assigned to the genus Malmea, as described by Fries in 1905. of the 19 species originally described under Malmea, 12 were subsequently moved to three new genera described by Chatrou (1998) on the basis of leaf, inflorescence, and seed characters: Klarobelia (now including 12 recognised species), Mosannona (14), and Pseudomalmea (3).two new species, one of Klarobelia (K.subglobosa) and one of Pseudomalmea (P.wingfieldii), both endemic to Venezuela, are described here.
the genus Cremastosperma was also described by Fries (1930), and phylogenetic analyses using DNA sequence data suggest that its species comprise a monophyletic group (Pirie et al., in press).29 species of Cremastosperma are currently recognised, although results of current systematic research suggest that the total number of dis tinguishable species may in fact exceed 30.A second endemic species for Venezuela, C. venezuelanum (the first being C. macrocarpum, described by Maas in Maas et al., 1986), is described here.
the number of collections available for the description of these new species was small in comparison to those known for many other Neotropical species of Annona ceae.Not all localities in the Neotropics are equally well collected or understood, and paucity of specimens does not necessarily reflect more than a lack of information with regards to the rarity or conservation status of particular taxa.however, our knowledge of both the threats present to the areas in which, in particular, Klarobelia subglobosa and Pseudomalmea wingfieldii are found, and of the sparse distribution of individuals of these taxa in these areas, leads us to conclude that these species may with some confidence be considered as threatened.For these species the specific nature of the threat is described, and appropriate iUCN threat categories (iUCN, 2001)  tree 7-10 m tall; young twigs and petioles glabrous.Leaves: petioles 10-20 mm long, 3-4 mm diam.; lamina narrowly elliptic, 30-53 by 9-15 cm, index 3-3.6,chartaceous to subcoriaceous, shiny, dark brown above, olive green /greyish/light to dark brown  below, glabrous on both sides, base cordate (rarely rounded), apex obtuse to acute, pri mary vein raised over its entire length, 2.5-5 mm wide at the widest point, secondary veins 15-30, intersecondary veins occasional, distance between from 12 mm at the base to 40 mm closer to the apex, angles with primary vein from 90° at the base to 60-50° closer to the apex, rarely branching, forming more or less indistinct loops, smallest distance between loops and margin 2-3 mm; tertiary veins showing some reticulation.Inflorescence of single flowers clustered in groups of up to 6, produced from the main trunk or from leafless branches; short axillary shoot c. 2 by 1 mm (in flower), 3-5 by 1.5-3 mm (in fruit); pedicels c. 11 by 1 mm (in flower), 16-22 by 1.5-2 mm diam.at the base, 2 -3 mm diam.at the apex (in fruit), glabrous; single lower bract, very broadly triangular, 0.5-1 mm long, obtuse, persistent, glabrous; upper bract attachment variable within central 80% of length, c. 1 by 1.5 mm, depressed triangular, obtuse, glabrous; flower buds and flowers at anthesis not seen; flowers dark brown to black in sicco, all parts glabrous; sepals free, depressed triangular, reflexed, c. 1 by 1.5 mm, acute to obtuse, persistent on less mature fruits; outer petals elliptic, c.Distribution -only known from four collections from the states of Aragua and Carabobo in Venezuela.
habitat & Ecology -Growing in the understorey of primary, moist, evergreen forest at elevations between 350 and 1100 m.Fruiting specimens have been collected in the months of April and May, one flowering specimen in August.
Distribution -only known from the type locality, in El Avila National Park, in the surroundings of Caracas, at an elevation of 500 m.
habitat & Ecology -in semideciduous forest on the northeastern side of the Venezuelan central coastal mountain range, of which the El Avila National Park is part.
Notes -Klarobelia subglobosa is only known from the type collection.Despite extensive explorations, reflected in steyermark & huber (1978) and Meier (1998), only a single specimen of this new species has been collected.in Meier (1998), K. sub globosa has been listed as Malmea diclina.According to the label, the specimen has been collected from a fallen, dried tree.
Despite the poor material, K. subglobosa can easily be distinguished from other spe cies in the genus by its subglobose monocarps.the species is most similar to K. stipi tata, an endemic of the osa Peninsula, Costa rica, with which it shares the presence of nonreduced leaves on the short shoot subtending the inflorescence.the short shoot in all other species of Klarobelia is provided with bracts.Leaves of K. stipitata are 10.5-16.5 cm long and narrowly elliptic, whereas leaves of K. subglobosa are 6-10 cm long and usually elliptic.Furthermore, monocarps of K. stipitata are broadly ellipsoid, rarely subglobose, and typically dry black, instead of light brown as in K. subglobosa.Conservation -El Avila is vulnerable: there is a risk that the various threats it faces will increasingly threaten its biodiversity (ParksWatch; www.parkswatch.org).
Distribution -only known from two individuals: the tree from which Tejera s.n. was collected (the Venezuelan state of Zulia), and an individual from which all re maining collections were gathered (Wingfield, pers. comm.), in the state of Falcón, Venezuela.Elevation 100 m.
habitat & Ecology -semideciduous, riverine forest.Notes -of Pseudomalmea wingfieldii only bisexual flowers have been observed.the other two species of Pseudomalmea, P. boyacana and P. diclina, are androdioecious.Androdioecy in Annonaceae is correlated with a higher number of carpels compared to the number of stamens in bisexual flowers, e.g. in Klarobelia, Pseudomalmea (Chatrou, 1998), Anonidium (Le thomas, 1969), and Greenwayodendron (Verdcourt, 1969).A carpelstamen ratio comparable to Pseudomalmea boyacana and P. diclina is observed in P. wingfieldii.it is therefore expected that the latter should also be androdioecious.
Bracts (in Pendry & Wingfield 1034) as well as nonreduced leaves (in Wingfield 8668, 15289) have been found on the short shoot subtending the inflorescence in P. wingfieldii.the occurrence of bracts on the short shoot is a feature not observed in the remaining two species of Pseudomalmea.in Wingfield 15289 a lateral inflorescence, only observed in a very young stage, originates from the axil of a nonreduced leaf.the occurrence of such a paracladium has not been observed before in Pseudomalmea, but is known e.g. from species in the Neotropical genus Unonopsis (L.Westra, pers.comm.). the absence of a bract on the part of pedicel above the articulation is a remarkable feature of P. wingfieldii.Chatrou (1998) used this as one of the characters to distinguish Pseudomalmea from Klarobelia. in every other respect, however, P. wing fieldii evidently belongs to Pseudomalmea, most notably because of the clear, reticu late venation, the inflorescences on a short, axillary shoot, the spreading of the petals during flower development, and the seeds with lamellate, fourparted ruminations and a raised, straight raphe.
Etymology -Pseudomalmea wingfieldii is named after Dr. Robert Wingfield, founder and curator of herbarium Coro (instituto tecnólogico Alfonso Gamero, Coro), the herbarium for the Venezuelan state of Falcón.
Conservation -only two individuals of P. wingfieldii have ever been encountered.the individual in the state of Falcón grows by the river ricoa, and is under immediate threat due to planned infrastructural works (Wingfield, pers. comm.).Under the same iUCN (2001) criterion as applied to Klarobelia subglobosa, we assess P. wingfieldii to be critically endangered.similar to K. subglobosa, more criteria for critically en dangered species might apply to P. wingfieldii, but this cannot be evaluated due to the limited number of collections and known individuals.