Lepidocupania pennelii (Guillaumin) Buerki, Callm., Munzinger & Lowry

Buerki, Sven, Munzinger, Jérôme, Lowry Ii, Porter P. & Callmander, Martin W., 2020, Two new genera of Sapindaceae (Cupanieae) from the southern Pacific: Lepidocupania and Neoarytera, Candollea 75 (2), pp. 269-284 : 278

Lepidocupania pennelii (Guillaumin) Buerki, Callm., Munzinger & Lowry , comb. nov.

≡ Cupaniopsis pennelii Guillaumin in Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. 79: 338. 1932.

Holotypus: NEW CALEDONIA. Prov. Sud: env. de Bourail , 8.II.1950, Pennel 403 ( P [ P00639152 ]!; isolecto-: P [ P00639153 , P00639154 ]!).

Distribution and ecology. – Lepidocupania pennelii is endemic to Grande Terre, where it is restricted to the westcentral coastal area between Bourail and Moindou, and one site along the east coast at the same latitude, around Saint Pol. It grows in forests on limestone, from 20 to 100 m in elevation ( ADEMA, 1991).

Notes. – Cupaniopsis pennelii was described based on Pennel 403. Material of the collection at P is mounted on three sheets, but only one of them [ P00639152 ] bears the name of Guillaumin’s new species in his own hand, and we therefore regard it as the holotype.

Lepidocupania pennelii is morphologically similar to L. globosa and L. rosea (the latter known only from the type specimen), whose ecological preferences and distributions are nearly the same. They likely form a species complex and will require further taxonomic work.