identifier	taxonID	type	CVterm	format	language	title	description	additionalInformationURL	UsageTerms	rights	Owner	contributor	creator	bibliographicCitation
A452878DC22AFFE3FF71076AFF57FE08.text	A452878DC22AFFE3FF71076AFF57FE08.taxon	http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text	http://rs.tdwg.org/ontology/voc/SPMInfoItems#GeneralDescription	text/html	en	Stigmatodon minimus D. R. Couto & Leme 2025	<div><p>Stigmatodon minimus D.R. Couto &amp; Leme, sp. nov. (Figs. 1 A–E, 2 A–Q)</p><p>Diagnosis: — This new species is morphologically similar to S. amadoi, but can be differentiated by its distinctly smaller size when flowering (ca. 15 cm vs. 32–43 cm tall), with shorter inflorescence (ca. 3.5 cm vs. 12.5–14 cm long), floral bracts reddish-wine or purplish-red (vs. green), flowers with diurnal anthesis (vs. nocturnal), and unappendaged petals (vs. petals with well-developed appendages).</p><p>Type: — BRAZIL. Espírito Santo: Nova Venécia, <a href="https://tb.plazi.org/GgServer/search?materialsCitation.longitude=-40.704723&amp;materialsCitation.latitude=-18.760555" title="Search Plazi for locations around (long -40.704723/lat -18.760555)">Guararema, Pedra da Fortaleza</a>, inselberg granitóide, epilithic on vertical rock wall, 18° 45’ 38” S, 40° 42’ 17” W, ca. 954 m elevation, 20 September 2024, D.R. Couto 7957 &amp; V.C. Manhães, cult. E. Leme 10523 (holotype RB!) .</p><p>Description:— Plants rupicolous, heliophyte, ca. 15 cm tall when flowering, propagating by basal shoots. Leaves 17 in number, densely rosulate, coriaceous, forming a broadly funnelform rosette; sheath suborbicular, 3–4 × 3.5–4.7 cm, densely and minutely pale castaneous lepidote on both faces, green toward the apex; blade subtriangular, acute to subrounded and minutely apiculate, nearly flat toward the apex, subspreading to recurved, 2.8–3.6 cm long, 2.2–2.5 cm wide at the base, sparsely and inconspicuously covered on both faces with white trichomes not obscuring the color of the blade, green adaxially, green at the base and dark purple toward the apex abaxially. Peduncle suberect, ca. 9 cm long, ca. 2.5 mm in diameter, dark purplish-wine, glabrescent, not sulcate at anthesis; peduncle bracts the basal ones subfoliaceous, the upper ones elliptic, acute and minutely apiculate, ca. 15 × 8 mm, erect, imbricate, slightly exceeding the internodes, abaxially glabrous, inconspicuously rugulose, reddish-wine, adaxially inconspicuously castaneous lepidote mainly toward the apex, greenish. Inflorescence simple, suberect, linear in outline at anthesis, ca. 3.5 cm long, ca. 7-flowered; main axis smooth at anthesis, reddish-wine, glabrous, obtusely if at all angled, slightly flexuous, internodes 3–4 × 3 mm; floral bracts suborbicular, acute, 11–12 × 12 mm, sparsely and inconspicuously white lepidote adaxially, greenish, glabrous and inconspicuously rugulose abaxially, reddish-wine or purplish-red, ecarinate, secund with the flowers and not imbricate before and at anthesis, thinly coriaceous, lustrous, nerved, about reaching 1/2 of the sepal length. Flowers ca. 30 mm long (with petals extended), diurnal, odorless, distichous, densely disposed and distinctly secund at anthesis; pedicel 4–5 mm long, 3–3.5 mm in diameter at the distal end, stout, green, glabrous; sepals broadly ovate-elliptic, obtuse, 11–13 × 7–7.5 mm, free, thinly coriaceous except for the membranaceous apical margins, smooth, glabrescent, abaxially dark red toward the apex, green at the base, lustrous, adaxially, green, the abaxial ones ecarinate, the abaxial one obtusely carinate; petals narrowly spathulate, apex broadly rounded and emarginate, recurved near the apex at anthesis, 23–26 × 8–9 mm, white, without appendages but bearing inconspicuous longitudinal callosities at the base; corolla tubular at the base for ca. 14 mm and campanulate at the distal end, 15–18 mm in diameter; stamens inserted inside the basal tubular portion of the corolla and not distinctly visible at anthesis; filaments free, 10–12 × 0.5–1 mm, terete, white; anthers 2–2.5 mm long, dorsifixed near the base, base bilobed, apex obtuse and apiculate, radially arranged; stigma tubo-laciniate type I, campanulate, margins densely crenulate, without papillae, ca. 1 mm in diameter, white, slightly exceeding the anthers; ovules distinctly caudate at the distal end. Capsules unknown.</p><p>Etymology: — The name of this species is based on the Latin word “minimus ”, meaning very small, minimum, the smallest, as a direct reference to its size, which is the smallest within the genus Stigmatodon .</p><p>Distribution, habitat and ecology:— Stigmatodon minimus was found in the county of Nova Venécia, northwest of Espírito Santo state, near the border with Minas Gerais, in southeastern Brazil (Fig. 3). The new species is hyperepilithic or saxicolous, living on vertical rock walls of inselbergs in the Atlantic Forest domain. At the type locality, known as “Pedra da Fortaleza” (Fig. 1 A–B), this new species forms small populations, which are scattered on the rock walls, exclusively at the highest and most exposed parts of the inselberg (Fig. 1 C), about 954 m elevation. Occasionally, some individuals grow mixed with small islands of rock vegetation, which are surprisingly develop on such steep walls (Fig. 1 C–E). The specimen studied here was collected by the first author using rock climbing techniques and equipment, approximately 30 m below the summit of the inselberg, on an exposed wall.</p><p>The northwestern and central-west region of Espírito Santo harbors, the largest concentration of dome-shaped inselbergs within the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (de Paula et al. 2020; Arantes et al. 2024). This region, known as the “Sugarloaf Land”, is characterized by extensive vertical rock walls that are typical habitats for species of Stigmatodon s.str., which share the tubo-laciniate stigma type (Barfuss et al. 2016; Couto et al. 2023). In the county of Nova Venécia, some species of Stigmatodon s.str. have been recorded, such as S. apparicianus (Pereira &amp; Reitz, in Pereira 1974: 441) Leme, G.K. Br. &amp; Barfuss (in Barfuss et al. 2016: 57), described from Pedra do Elefante, about 25 km in a straight line from Pedra da Fortaleza (Figure 3); and S. plurifolius (Leme, 1987: 314) Leme, G.K. Br. &amp; Barfuss (in Barfuss et al. 2016: 58), recorded in the district of Cristalina, about 14 km from Pedra da Fortaleza (Figure 3). Near the border with Nova Venécia, the type localities of four species of Stigmatodon s.str. are found (see Figure 3): S. amadoi for the county of Águia Branca, S. bifidus and S. magnibracteatus (county of Água Doce do Norte), and S. viridibracteatus from Barra de São Francisco. Of these, only S. amadoi presents morphological affinities with S. minimus .</p><p>Preliminary Conservation status: — Stigmatodon minimus is only known from the type locality, in the Pedra da Fortaleza, a lowland inselberg situated at the northwest region of Espírito Santo, with the Area of Occupancy (AOO) of 4 km ² (AOO), and undefined Extent of Occurrence (EOO). This value is within the limits for Critically Endangered (CR), based on criterion B2 (area of occupancy), taking into account only the number of locations or severely fragmented areas. However, population isolation and fragmentation are natural conditions on inselbergs, thus evaluations of plant distribution on inselbergs probably yield overestimated values of AOO and EOO (Leme et al. 2022). Due to its apparent rarity and restricted endemic distribution, with their small populations located outside any conservation unit, and thus formally unprotected and prone to the effects of stochastic events in the near future, it seems prudent to include this species in the Vulnerable category [VU: D2]. However, it is worth highlighting that the municipality of Nova Venécia is one of the largest ornamental rock mining centers in Espírito Santo, with many mines in operation in inselbergs in the vicinity of Pedra da Fortaleza, which generates great concern (personal observation). Also, it is worth noting that the region has a large concentration of dome-shaped inselbergs, and further research in the region may provide new information on S. minimus and indicate the need of reevaluation of its conservation status.</p><p>Observations: — Stigmatodon minimus presents a unique set of morphological features for the genus in general and as a member of the Stigmatodon s.str. group in particular (Fig. 2). It is characterized by the smallest stature ever recorded for the genus [ca. 15 cm tall vs. (18–) 20–100 (–114) cm tall considering all 35 known species (Couto 2017)], the reddish-wine to purplish-red floral bracts (Fig. 2 A–C), flowers of diurnal anthesis, petals white (Fig. 2 A–C, G–I, K–L) and unappendaged (Fig. 2 L), and stamens not distinctly visible at anthesis (Fig. 2 G–H), contrasting with the morphological characteristics of other previously known species of Stigmatodon . However, its hyperepilithic habit on vertical rock walls, leaf and rosette conformation, campanulate corolla (Fig. 2 A–C, G–H, I) and stigma of the tubo-laciniate type I (Fig. 2 O) indicate this new species as a member of Stigmatodon s. str. closely related to S. amadoi (Fig. 2, R–S), an endemic species from the Espirito Santo state, with similar small stature and flower conformation.</p><p>The new species can be distinguished from S. amadoi by the distinctly smaller leaf sheaths (3–4 × 3.5–4.7 cm vs. 8.5–10 × 6.2–7 cm), suborbicular (vs. broadly elliptic to ovate), leaf blade subtriangular (vs. ligulate), shorter [2.8–3.6 cm vs. 5.8–7.3 (-10) long], peduncle shorter (ca. 9 cm vs. 19–30 cm long), dark purplish-wine (vs. green), with smaller number of flowers (ca. 7 vs. 19-25 in number), floral bracts reddish-wine or purplish-red (vs. green), flowers odorless (vs. scented), petals white (vs. greenish-white), and stamens inserted inside the basal tubular portion of the corolla and not distinctly visible at anthesis (vs. distinctly visible at anthesis), in addition to the characters cited in the diagnosis.</p><p>The diurnal anthesis and the reddish-wine or purplish-red color of the floral bracts and peduncle of S. minimus remind S. enigmaticus D.R. Couto, Gonella &amp; A.F. Costa (2023c: 209), a putative member of S. limae complex according to its protologue, but with floral characteristics typical of ornithophilous species of Vriesea sect. Vriesea, such as colorful floral bracts, bright yellow petals forming a prevailing tubular corolla with exserted stamens. In Stigmatodon s.str., characterized by a tubo-laciniate stigma type, most species exhibit nocturnal anthesis and are bat-pollinated, traits hypothetically supported as ancestral within the genus (Couto et al. 2022). However, within the S. limae complex, although most species also display nocturnal anthesis and campanulate corollas, i.e., with bat pollination, some taxa, such as S. oliganthus (Baker, 1887: 345) D.R.Couto &amp; A.F.Costa (in Couto et al. 2022: 354), and S. enigmaticus (as previously mentioned), show diurnal anthesis and tubular corollas. These traits may represent either a retention of the ancestral condition or a reversal to it, an evolutionary hypothesis that requires testing through phylogenetic analysis, as suggested by Couto et al. (2023c).</p><p>The unappendaged petals of S. minimus is one striking new feature for the first time reported for the genus. Within the genera of subfamily Tillandsioideae Harms (1930: 115), subtribe Vrieseinae Barfuss &amp; W. Till (Barfuss et al. 2016: 55), which encompass about 300 species, only four species – Vriesea sp. of V. morrenii Wawra (1880: 219) complex, Waltillia hatschbachii (Smith &amp; Read, 1975: 292) Leme, Barfuss &amp; Halbritter, in Leme et al. (2017: 29), W. itambana Machado &amp; Versieux, in Machado et al. (2021: 2), and now, Stigmatodon minimus – have unappendaged petals. The remaining species (100% of Alcantarea, 99% of Vriesea e 97% of Stigmatodon) have well developed basal appendages.</p><p>Brown &amp; Terry (1992) indicated the late ontological development of appendages on the petals of Bromeliaceae, being the last formed external multicellular structures, which reduce – according to them – the importance of presence/ absence of these appendages as diagnostic character in genera segregation. However, Barfuss et al. (2016) verified that genetic entities share similar character states in their morphological traits, with petals appendages being useful when combined with other characters for the differentiation of some groups. In the case of S. minimus, the absence of petal appendages could be resulted from the retention of the ancestral state or a reversion to it, a hypothesis that needs to be tested. Anyway, despite the unappendaged petals o S. minimus is not a strong enough feature to place it outside the circumscription of typical Stigmadoton, undoubtedly it is very useful to segregate this new species from close relatives.</p></div>	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/A452878DC22AFFE3FF71076AFF57FE08	Public Domain	No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.		Plazi	Couto, Dayvid R.;Manhães, Vitor Da Cunha;Leme, Elton M. C.	Couto, Dayvid R., Manhães, Vitor Da Cunha, Leme, Elton M. C. (2025): A diurnal new species of Stigmatodon (Bromeliaceae, Tillandsioideae) from vertical rock walls of the Atlantic Forest inselbergs, Espírito Santo state, Brazil. Phytotaxa 720 (2): 149-156, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.720.2.5, URL: https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.720.2.5
