Ceratozamia sanchezae Pérez-Farrera, Gutiérrez-Ortega & Vovides, 2021

Gutiérrez-Ortega, José Said, Pérez-Farrera, Miguel A., Vovides, Andrew P., Chávez-Cortázar, Angélica, López, Sergio, Santos-Hernández, Nancy Gabriela & Ruíz-Roblero, Shirley K., 2021, Ceratozamia sanchezae (Zamiaceae): a new cycad species from Chiapas Highlands (Mexico), Phytotaxa 500 (3), pp. 201-216 : 209-211

Ceratozamia sanchezae Pérez-Farrera, Gutiérrez-Ortega & Vovides sp. nov. ( Figs. 6–7 ).

Holotype: — MEXICO. Chiapas, Tenejapa, 1500 m, Pérez-Farrera 3558 ♀, 16 May 2017. ( HEM!). Isotypes: ( XAL!, MEXU!)

Ceratozamia sanchezae is distinguished from other species in the genus by its light green or reddish-brown leaflets in emerging leaves, arched mature leaves, the yellow margin of megasporophylls, few and scattered prickles on petiole and rachis, oblanceolate leaflets when juvenile.

Additional specimens examined (paratypes): — MEXICO. Chiapas, Tenejapa. Breedlove D. 25506 ( CAS; CHIP; MEXU); Tenejapa. Pérez-Farrera M. A. 1673 ( HEM) ; Petalcingo. Breedlove 56111 ( CAS); Yajalón. Méndez Ton 5498; 5722 ( MEXU).

Stem semihypogeous, unbranching 9–23 cm long, 10–20 cm in diameter. Cataphylls persistent, brown and densely tomentose at emergence, reddish-brown and glabrous at maturity; triangular, apex acuminate. Leaves 4–16, ascending, arching at maturity, 106–226 cm long, light green or reddish-light brown when emerging. Petiole terete, 42–107 cm long, armed with very few widely-spaced short prickles diminishing from the petiole to rachis. Rachis terete, 54–118 cm long, prickles absent or with few widely-spaced, short prickles. Leaflets 15–31 pairs, linear to lanceolate, falcate along distal half, papyraceous, opposite to subopposite in the median and apical part of rachis, alternate in the basal part, light-green to reddish-brown; apex acuminate, symmetric, base attenuate; median leaflets 28–40 cm long, 18–33 mm wide, inter-leaflet distance 18–44 mm; articulations green, 0.81–1.11 cm wide. Microstrobilus solitary, cylindrical, erect, 25–28 cm long, 8.9–10 cm diam., light green turning olive green at maturity; peduncle tomentose 8.5–15 cm long, 2.7–3.9 cm in diam. Microsporophylls cuneiform, distal face bicornate, 13–17 mm wide, 5.4–6.7 mm tall. Megastrobilus solitary, cylindrical, erect, 18–28 cm long, 7–8.2 cm in diam., apex mucronate; olive green turning light green at maturity, yellow pubescence at emergence. Megasporophylls peltate, distal face bicornate, pubescent, 2.4–3.7 cm wide, 1.1–1.2 cm tall, green (including horns) at maturity, base green with yellow pubescence; peduncle tomentose, light green when immature, light brown at maturity, 4.6–6.3 cm long, 1–1.2 cm in diam. Seeds ovate, sarcotesta cream to light yellow, 2.2–2.6 cm long, 1.4–1.5 cm in diameter.

Habitat description. Ceratozamia sanchezae is found in Quercus-Pinus-Liquidambar forest, according to the classification of Breedlove (1981), at 1500–1800 m a.s.l. It is sympatric with Quercus candicans Née (1801: 277) , Q. rugosa Née (1801: 275) , Q. sapotifolia Liebmann (1854: 185) , Pinus oocarpa Schiede ex Schlechtendal (1838: 491) , Nyssa sylvatica Marshall (1785: 97–98) , Liquidambar styraciflua Linnaeus (1753: 999) , Chamaedorea carchensis Standley & Steyermark (1947: 199) , Gerardia spiciflora Engelmann (1845: 227) , Ruellia stemonacanthoides ( Oersted [1855: 8–12]) Hemsley (1882: 507) , Ageratina ligustrina ( Candolle [1836: 181]) King & Robinson (1970: 223) , Ageratum houstonianum Miller (1768: 2) , Verbesina perymenioides Schultz Bipontinus ex Klatt (1887: 143–144) , Vernonia deppeana Lessing (1831: 398–399) , Anthurium huixtlense Matuda (1950: 91–92) , and hemiepiphytes or epiphytes such as Philodendron sp. , Polypodium sp. and Tillandsia guatemalensis Smith (1949: 281) . Ceratozamia sanchezae grows in Luvisol and phaeozem soils (Ferrisquilla-Villafranca 1998, INEGI 2010), generally on abruptly steep slopes of about 60°. The sedimentary outcrops in this area correspond to Cretaceous marine strata ( INEGI 2010).

Etymology. This species is named in honor of María Ydelia Sánchez-Tinoco, Mexican biologist, for her great contributions in the field of reproduction biology, particularly in the anatomy of the ovule and archegonia of cycads.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Ceratozamia sanchezae. sp. nov. in situ. (A) Adult plant. Emerging leaves can be either light green (B) or reddish-brown (C-D) until maturation.

FIGURE 7. Strobili of Ceratozamia sanchezae. (A) Immature and (B) mature megastrobili. (C) Immature and (D) mature microstrobili.