Aniba ecuadorica Cornejo & Loor, 2022

Aniba ecuadorica Cornejo & Loor View in CoL , sp. nov. — Fig. 1 View Fig , 5 View Fig , 6 View Fig

Etymology. The name of the new species refers to the latitudinal distribution, which is about 30–40 km south from latitude zero equatorial line, and also to the country of Ecuador.

Aniba ecuadorica can be recognized by its subverticillate leaves,the blades narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic-oblanceolate, 30–60 by 6–10 cm, subcoriaceous,glabrous,secondary veins (12–)16–22 pairs, inflorescences pale-tomentellous with basal bracts 0.8–2 cm long, flowers 3–3.5 mm long, mouth of corolla c. 2 mm wide at anthesis,stamens with a protruding connective, style longer than ovary, glabrous, stigma unexpanded, obliquely cleft, pilose, and fruit ellipsoid-oblong to oblong, 3–3.7 by 1.6–2 cm. — Type: X. Cornejo & A. Loor 9305 (holo GUAY), Ecuador, Manabí, reserva privada La Esperanza de Anelio Loor, 3 km after San Ramon Del Tigrillo, 15 km on Via Venado from El Carmen , wet forest, - 79.59972W - 0.3666667S, 250 m, 21 Febr. 2020 (fr) GoogleMaps .

Tree, up to 10 m tall and 15 cm dbh, subcylindric at base. Terminal branches subcylindrical, shortly tomentellous to abundantly short-pilose; lenticels narrowly-elliptic, up to 3 mm long, scattered. Leaves subverticillate, mature blades narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic-oblanceolate, 30–60 by 6–10 cm, subcoriaceous (fresh), thinly chartaceous (dry), green to darkgreen above,opaque beneath (fresh);apex acuminate; base narrowly cuneate to attenuate; venation brochidodromous; secondary veins (12–)16–22 pairs, prominent below, sulcate above; tertiary veins reticulate, sometimes to scalariform or irregularly scalariform; glabrous on both sides; petioles 0.5–2 by 0.4– 0.8 cm, slightly channelled to flattened adaxially. Inflorescences 3–12, subterminal, triangular to narrow panicles, at the base of new growth, those in the axils of bracts below the terminal bud 10– 20 cm long, greenish white or whitish to yellowish tomentellous; bracts below terminal bud lanceolate, 0.8–2 cm long, densely short-sericeous adaxially. Pedicels 1.5–2 mm long. Flowers pyriform, 3–3.5 mm long, including the obconic tube of 1.2–1.7 mm long, mouth of corolla c. 2 mm wide at anthesis; tepals 6, erect, ovate, convex and densely strigulose throughout, minutely ciliate, the outer three 1–1.3 mm long, the inner three 0.8–1 mm long; stamens 9, 1–1.3 mm long, filaments somewhat thinner than anthers, 0.5–0.8 mm long, dorsally tomentellous, anthers 0.3–0.5 mm long, glabrous, flaps opening upwards and towards the connective, the latter protruding beyond the anther cells, first and second whorls with introrse-ventral locules, third whorl with lateral locules and two basal glands per stamen; staminodes not seen; ovary ellipsoid, 0.5–0.7 mm long, glabrous, style longer than ovary, 1.3–1.4 mm long, glabrous, stigma obliquely cleft, unexpanded, pilose. Fruit ellipsoid-oblong to oblong, 3–3.7 by 1.6–2 cm, smooth, darkpurple to opaque black at maturity (fresh), inserted at 1/2–1/3 of its basal length in the cupule; cupule red (fresh), 1.3–2 by 1.5–2.2 cm, with thick lenticels of warty appearance.

Distribution — Aniba ecuadorica is endemic to Ecuador and only known from the El Carmen canton in the Manabí region in the western part of the country ( Fig. 1 View Fig ). The species has been collected to date from two isolated wet forest patches some 5 km apart. The species is documented to occur at around 250 m a.s.l.

Preliminary IUCN (2019) conservation assessment — The EOO of Aniba ecuadorica is estimated to be just 12 km 2 (less than the 100 km 2 upper limit for Critically Endangered status under the criterion B1) and its minimal AOO is estimated to be 12 km 2 (just above the upper limit for the Critically Endangered status (< 10 km 2) under the criterion B2). Aniba ecuadorica is endemic to the canton of El Carmen in the Manabí province, and has not been collected in a protected area. It does occur, however, in two privately owned forest patches less than 5 km apart ( Fig. 1 View Fig ). The species is known from four specimens (collected in 2020 and 2021) representing one ‘location’ (sensu IUCN 2019), within the limit of the Critically Endangered status. As the wet forests of the province of Manabí are severely fragmented and under steady pressure by the expansion of agricultural and cattle farming frontiers we project a continuous decline of mature individuals. Aniba ecuadorica is therefore assigned a preliminary status of CR B1ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v).

Phenology — Flowering: January, February and November; fruiting: January to March and September.

Paratypes. ECUADOR, Manabí, Reserva privada La Esperanza de Anelio Loor, 3 km after San Ramon Del Tigrillo , 15 km on Via Venado from El Carmen , - 0.3666667S, - 79.59972W, 250 m, 21 Feb. 2020 (fl), X. Cornejo & A GoogleMaps . Loor 9318 (!- GUAY); Canton El Carmen, private forest fragment, c. 7 km after San Ramon Del Tigrillo , 22 km on Via Venado from El Carmen city, - 0.409894S, - 79.616256W, 207 m, 15 Sept. 2020 (fr), T. L. P GoogleMaps . Couvreur & A . Loor 127 4 (!- GUAY, QCA, WAG); Reserva privada La Esperanza de Anelio Loor, 3 km after San Ramon Del Tigrillo , 15 km on Via Venado from El Carmen, - 0.37790S, - 79.60837W, 218 m, 14 Nov. 2021 (fl), T. L. P GoogleMaps . Couvreur, A . Loor, A . Lozinguez 1522 (!- GUAY, P, QCA, WAG) .

Notes — Aniba ecuadorica differs from A. magnifica from the wet forest of western Ecuador by the narrower inflorescences (vs broader, triangular panicles with more developed secondary and tertiary branches), flowers with outer tepals shorter (1–1.3 vs 1.9–2.1 mm long), and fruits with a red calyx at maturity (vs brown, see Palacios 2018, Fig. 5e View Fig ). Aniba ecuadorica resembles A. hostmanniana (Nees) Mez from Venezuela and Guianas to the Amazonia of Peru and Brazil ( Kubitzki & Renner 1982), but differs from the latter by the rusty tomentose branches, leaves subcordate, rounded or obtuse at the base, smaller flowers (3–3.5 vs 15–18 mm long) and larger fruits (3–3.7 vs 1.5–2.5 cm).

Annonaceae

We provide a tentative dichotomic key to the species of Guatteria found in western Ecuador (west of the Andes). We did not include G. punctata because this species is morphologically very variable with a large geographic distribution in its latest species concept, making it hard to key out ( Maas et al. 2015). However, this species has the following characters that could be helpful for identification: leaves not verruculose and generally coriaceous; secondary veins impressed above; petiole without a revolute margin, flowering pedicels 10–35 mm long, densely to sparsely covered with appressed, semi-erect or erect hairs, the ellipsoid to subglobose monocarps stipitate being between 6–30 mm long. We include in the below key the species G. scalarinervia D.R.Simpson , which is a mainly Amazonian species but with a single known collection in western Ecuador ( Øllgaard 57277 (U!); Carchi, Maas et al. 2015). Identifications should be confirmed by checking Maas et al. (2015).