Content uploaded by Fulgent Coritico
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Fulgent Coritico on May 02, 2018
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
Nepenthes alfredoi (Caryophyllales, Nepenthaceae), A New Species of Pitcher Plant from Mindanao, Philippines
Abstract and Figures
The Philippines having the highest rates of endemism of this family is considered a center of diversity of the genus Nepenthes along with Sumatra and Borneo. Recent explorations in Mindanao and Luzon has raised the Philippine number of Nepenthes species to 52. This study reports the discovery of a new Nepenthes species from Mt. Hamiguitan. It is distinguished in having ground and upper pitchers with fringed wings on the tendril. The new species described herein was only observed at Gov. Generoso and has not been recorded elsewhere in the Philippines. Known only from the type locality and it faces severe threat from habitat destruction.
Figures - uploaded by Fulgent Coritico
Author content
All figure content in this area was uploaded by Fulgent Coritico
Content may be subject to copyright.
... Logging of primary and secondary rainforest represents a significant threat to the remaining populations of Triphyophyllum peltatum (as well as the closely-related but non-carnivorous Habropetalum) in tropical West Africa (Munro, 2009;Cross et al., 2018b). Illegal logging has been identified as a threat to Nepenthes species from Cambodia (Mey et al., 2010), Indonesian Borneo (Giesen, 2000;Meijaard et al., 2005), and throughout the Philippines (Amoroso et al. 2009Gronemeyer et al., 2014;Cheek et al., 2015;Lagunday et al., 2017, Lagunday andAmoroso, 2019). The discovery of undescribed Nepenthes species and new populations of known species along the margins of logging roads and in areas made accessible by logging activitiesdfor N. dactylifera, N. ephippiata, N. fractiflexa, N. glandulifera, N. pitopangii, N. platychila and N. vogelii, among others (Lee 2004;Lee et al., 2009;Robinson et al., 2019a;Golos et al., 2020; A.T. Cross and A. Robinson pers. ...
... Poaching now threatens 45 species of Nepenthes (almost one-third of all species in the genus), including 13 that are CR, five that are EN, and seven that are VU, and is the only recognised threat to 27 species. Poaching has been identified as a threat to Nepenthes from Cambodia (Mey et al., 2010), Malaysian Borneo (Wulffraat andMorrison, 2013;Bukhori et al., 2018), Indonesia (McPherson, 2009Cheek et al., 2018), and the Philippines (Robinson et al., 2009;Lagunday and Amoroso, 2019), most notably for CR species including N. clipeata, N. jacquelineae, N. pitopangii, N. rigidifolia, N. tenuis and N. undulatifolia. Paradoxically, Nepenthes have been identified as potential flagship tourism species in countries such as Indonesia where the impacts of poaching on this genus are most severe (Setiawan, 2017). ...
Carnivorous plants (CPs)—those possessing specific strategies to attract, capture and kill animal prey and obtain nutrition through the absorption of their biomass—are harbingers of anthropogenic degradation and destruction of ecosystems. CPs exhibit highly specialised and often very sensitive ecologies, being generally restricted to nutrient-impoverished habitats where carnivory offers a competitive advantage. As such, they are often the first species to disappear following habitat degradation, land use change, and alteration to natural ecological processes, and are at significant risk from processes such as eutrophication and weed invasion, and even poorly-understood impacts such as airborne nitrogen inputs. Many of the world’s 860 species of CPs are found in wetland habitats, which represent some of the most cleared and heavily degraded ecosystems on Earth. Global diversity hotspots for CPs are likewise located in some of the most heavily cleared and disturbed areas of the planet—southwestern Western Australia, Southeast Asia, Mediterranean Europe, central eastern Brazil, and the southeastern United States—placing their conservation at odds with human developmental interests. Many carnivorous plant species exhibit extreme range-restriction and are wholly localised to specific geological formations, microhabitats or elevations, with nowhere to move to in the face of environmental change such as a warming, drying climate. We provide the first systematic examination of the conservation status and threats to all CPs globally, compiling full or partial assessments of conservation status category for 860 species from 18 genera, and provide ten recommendations towards better conservation and management of this iconic group. A total of 69 species were assessed as Critically Endangered (8% of all species), 47 as Endangered (6%), 104 as Vulnerable (12%), and 23 as Near Threatened (3%). Slightly over 60% of CPs (521 species) were assessed as Least Concern. At least 89 species are known from only a single location based on current knowledge. Data on threatening processes were available for 790 species, with the most common threatening processes including Agriculture and Aquaculture (impacting 170 species), Natural Systems Modifications (168 species), Climate Change and Severe Weather (158 species), Energy Production and Mining (127 species), Human Intrusions and Disturbance (126 species), and Biological Resource Use (98 species). Almost a quarter of all species were impacted upon by three or more threatening processes. The most significant threats placing species at imminent risk of extinction include the continuing clearing of natural habitat for urban and agricultural development and the illegal collection of individuals from the wild for horticultural trade. The complex and specialised ecological requirements of CPs, together with the multifaceted threats they face, make conservation difficult and repatriation even to restored areas challenging. As the number of vulnerable, endangered and extinct carnivorous plant species continues to grow, despite significant conservation efforts in many regions and greater awareness of their ecological requirements, it is clear that a paradigm shift is required in our approach to the preservation of this unique group of plants in order to achieve long-term conservation successes.
... Further, many species are endemic to single islands or even single peaks. Five Nepenthes species are endemic to Mt. Hamiguitan [69,70]. This site-level endemism is one reason for Mt. ...
Elevation is an important determinant of ecological community composition. It integrates several abiotic features and leads to strong, repeatable patterns of community structure, including changes in the abundance and richness of numerous taxa. However, the influence of elevational gradients on microbes is understudied relative to plants and animals. To compare the influence of elevation on multiple taxa simultaneously, we sampled phytotelm communities within a tropical pitcher plant (Nepenthes mindanaoensis) along a gradient from 400 to 1200 m a.s.l. We use a combination of metabarcoding and physical counts to assess diversity and richness of bacteria, micro-eukaryotes, and arthropods, and compare the effect of elevation on community structure to that of regulation by a number of plant factors. Patterns of community structure differed between bacteria and eukaryotes, despite their living together in the same aquatic microhabitats. Elevation influences community composition of eukaryotes to a significantly greater degree than it does bacteria. When examining pitcher characteristics, pitcher dimorphism has an effect on eukaryotes but not bacteria, while variation in pH levels strongly influences both taxa. Consistent with previous ecological studies, arthropod abundance in phytotelmata decreases with elevation, but some patterns of abundance differ between living inquilines and prey.
Vaccinium carmesinum is described as a new species of Ericaceae from Mt. Tago Range, Mindanao Island, Philippines. It is
similar to V. platyphyllum Merrill and V. luzoniense S.Vidal but is distinct from the former by longer and wider leaves, longer
racemes, longer bracts, glabrous corollas, and glabrescent fruits, and from the latter by longer petioles, leaf glands distributed
along the blade margin, glabrous rachis, and lanate filaments. Vaccinium carmesinum bears the widest leaves among Philippine
Vaccinium. Its discovery increases the number of Vaccinium species recognized in the Philippines to 37.
Vaccinium carmesinum is described as a new species of Ericaceae from Mt. Tago Range, Mindanao Island, Philippines. It is similar to V. platyphyllum Merrill and V. luzoniense S.Vidal but is distinct from the former by longer and wider leaves, longer racemes, longer bracts, glabrous corollas, and glabrescent fruits, and from the latter by longer petioles, leaf glands distributed along the blade margin, glabrous rachis, and lanate filaments. Vaccinium carmesinum bears the widest leaves among Philippine Vaccinium. Its discovery increases the number of Vaccinium species recognized in the Philippines to 37.
A new species of Ophioderma, O. subsessile, is described from Mindanao, Philippines. This species is characterized by its mostly longer trophophore than sporophore, sporophore peduncle sub-sessile with a distinct sterile appendage, and strobilus longer than the peduncle. A description, illustrations, and key to the species of Philippine Ophioderma are provided.
Nepenthes maximoides sp. nov. (Sect. Alatae) is described and assessed as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct) from Luzon, Philippines and appears unrecorded in 110 years. The spectacular, large, narrowly funnel-shaped upper pitchers, lids with recurved basal and filiform apical appendages, unlike any other species in the Philippines, closely resemble those of N. maxima (Sect. Regiae) of Sulawesi-New Guinea, likely due to convergent evolution. Following recent phylogenomic analysis, sect. Alatae is divided into two, Sect. Alatae sensu stricto of Luzon to Sibuyan (including N. maximoides), and Sect. Micramphorae, expanded and recircumscribed to encompass those species of the southern Visayas, and Mindanao. A key is provided to the six species now recognised in the newly narrowly recircumscribed Sect. Alatae. The number of Nepenthes species recorded from Luzon has increased from two in 2001, to eight in 2020, all but one of which are endemic to that island, and four of which appear to be point endemics.
Together with the islands of Sumatra (Indonesia) and Borneo (Indonesia, Malaysia), the Philippines are the main center of diversity for carnivorous pitcher plants of the genus, Nepenthes L. Nepenthes are the largest of all carnivorous plants, and the species with the biggest pitchers are capable of trapping and digesting small amphibians and even mammals. The central cordillera of Mindanao Island in the south of the Philippines is mostly covered with old, primary forest and is the largest remaining cohesive, untouched area of wilderness in the Philippines. In a recent field exploration of two areas of the central cordillera, namely Mount Sumagaya and a section of the Pantaron range, four new taxa of Nepenthes were discovered. These four remarkable new species, N. pantaronensis, N. cornuta, N. talaandig and N. amabilis, are described, illustrated and assessed.
In the course of studies to typify what has been regarded as the most widespread and common of the endemic Philippines species of Nepenthes, N. alata Blanco, we were able to review the morphological variation in what we previously regarded as a polymorphic species. This led us to redelimit that species in a narrower sense, to resurrect N. graciliflora Elmer, and to recognise N. negros sp. nov., here assessed as ‘Critically Endangered’ (CR) using the IUCN standard. The Nepenthes alata group is characterised and a key to its species is provided.
Three new species in the Nepenthes alata group from the Philippines, Nepenthes armin, N. tboli and N. zygon, are described and assessed as threatened using the IUCN 2012 standard. The group is expanded by the inclusion of N. truncata and N. robcantleyi, previously included in the N. regiae group. A key to the nineteen species of the group is presented.
Pitcher Plants of the Old World 1 st ed.; Redfern Natural History
- S Mcpherson
McPherson, S., 2009. Pitcher Plants of the Old World 1 st ed.;
Redfern Natural History, GB: Poole, UK.