Miconia longicuspidata S.S.Renner & R.Goldenb., 2011

Renner, Susanne S. & Goldenberg, Renato, 2011, A new name and a new synonym in Miconia (Melastomataceae), PhytoKeys 3, pp. 35-37 : 35

Miconia longicuspidata S.S.Renner & R.Goldenb. nom. nov.

Miconia longicuspis Herzog, Feddes Repert. Nov. Sp. 7: 64. 1909. Type: Bolivia. Cordillera de Santa Cruz: Cerro Amboró, Cuñucú, 600-1400 m, Oct 1907, T.Herzog 326 (holotype: Z!). Not Miconia longicuspis Cogn. in A.DC. & C.DC, Monog. Phan. 7: 850. 1891. (Replaced name)

Comments.

Miconia longicuspis Herzog is a later homonym of Miconia longicuspis Cogn., a treelet from eastern Brazil ( Goldenberg and Reginato 2006). Miconia longicuspidata is known only from the holotype at Z, a collection by Theodor Herzog (1880-1961) in the mountains of Cuñucú, Bolivia, in 1907. We have found no isotypes or type photos in G, JE, L, U, W, or WAG. This species most closely matches Miconia abbreviata Markgr., a widespread shrub that ranges from Bolivia throughout the Amazon basin to the Guianas, but differs in the much denser secondary venation. In Miconia abbreviata the secondaries are spaced at about 0.5-0.7 mm apart, in Miconia longicuspidata , only 2-3 mm apart. Theodor Herzog was an expert mountaineer and collector, who explored widely in Bolivia. During his two expeditions to that country in 1907/08 and 1910/11, he collected about 600 species of vascular plants. In 1910, Herzog not only explored the Cordillera Santa Cruz, where Miconia longicuspidata appears to be endemic, but also surveyed the Cordillera de Cocapata, a range of peaks near Cochabamba extending northwest for about 100 kilometers. A description of the flora of the Cordillera de Santa Cruz is given in Herzog (1910). A color photograph of the type is available at http://www.zuerich-herbarien.uzh.ch.