Caperonia zaponzeta Mansfeld (1925: 265)

Külkamp, Josimar, Iganci, João R. V., Cordeiro, Inês & Baumgratz, José Fernando A., 2021, New species and occurrences of Caperonia (Euphorbiaceae) for South America, Phytotaxa 529 (1), pp. 86-92 : 91

Caperonia zaponzeta Mansfeld (1925: 265) .

Type:— PERU. Ucayali: Yarina Cocha , 28 Nov 1923, G. Tessmann 3386 (lectotype designated here: G [G00434280]!; isolectotypes: NY [NY00246312]!, S [S-R-10609]!)

Mansfeld described Caperonia zaponzeta , based on the collection G. Tessmann 3386, sent to the Berlin herbarium (B) in Germany. Duplicates of Tessamann’s collection were sent to herbaria G, NY and S, while the sample preserved in B was destroyed during World War II ( Harms 2016). From the remaining duplicates, we chose the G. Tessmann 3386 from G as the lectotype of C. zaponzeta .

Caperonia zaponzeta was hitherto known only from Peru, where it occurs on riversides in low-elevation areas in the Amazon region, in the northeast and southeast of the country ( Fig. 2 ). Here we report for the first time the occurrence of this species in Brazil and Bolivia ( Fig. 2 ), both with records from riversides in the Amazon region. In Brazil, the species was collected in the Juruá river, municipality of Eirunepé, in the state of Amazonas ( Fig. 2 ). The specimen R.L. Fróes 21626 (RB) was gathered in 1946 and remained without identification until 2020. Currently there are 14 species of Caperonia in Brazil, which makes it the richest country in species from this genus.

The specimen O.E. White 2372 (NY) was determined as C. zaponzeta by R. Frey in 1990, but the locality in the label is unreadable. Analyzing other collections from O.E. White during the Mulford Biological Exploration of the Amazon Basin ( Rusby 1922), we assume that the specimen O.E. White 2372 was probably gathered in the municipality of Rurrenabaque, in Bolivia ( Fig. 2 ).

Based on the two new records (O.E. White 2372, and R.L. Fróes 21626) the extension of occurrence (EOO) and the area (AOO) were also extended, to 373,436 km 2 and 40 km 2, respectively. Caperonia zaponzeta is a tall shrub (up to 2 m), an unusual character in a genus that is almost exclusively composed of herbs and subshrubs.

Figures

FIGURE 2.—Distribution map of Caperonia amarumayu (black star), C. maracaibensis (black square), C. zaponzeta (white circles (previous records) and black circles (new records)).