Sistematics of Utricularia sect. Foliosa Kamienski. (Lentibulariaceae). Species circunscription and Phylogeny.

• Grant number: 13/02729-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2013
• End date: August 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Plant Taxonomy
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Takeo Sano
• Grantee: Paulo Cesar Baleeiro Souza
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The genus Utricularia (Lentibulariaceae) is the most diverse among carnivorous plants and has a worlwide geographical distribution. These plants are characterized by presence of modified leaves (traps), known as utricules that act on aquatic and terrestrial microfauna capture. Utricularia sect. Foliosa is a homogeneous group composed of e 3 spp., of which is difficult its delimitation. However, this homogeneity is contradictory, once U. amethystina assembles a surprising complex, composed of 32 synonyms, as revised by Taylor (1989). Due to continuous morphological among the possible species, together with the lack of material, led to synonymization. however, according to Taylor (1989), there should emerge two, three, four or more species. Possible new species within U. sect. Foliosa, discovered by several collectors after review, were eventually recognized as U. amethystina for convenience, since it would require a new revision for the proper publication of a new taxon or revalidation of one of these synonyms in U. sect. Foliosa. Muller et al (2005), through the study of phylogenetic relationships with molecular markers, proposed rearrangements of some sections. Among them, U. sect. Foliosa was expanded to accommodate U. sect. Psyllosperma, considered paraphyletic; a change that is somewhat questionable, considering morphological aspects of both sections. Despite occur in Central America and South America, the group presents the point of diversity in the Cerrado savanna regions and the state of Roraima and Venezuela. The material is analyzed from collections and herbaria. This study aims to define the complex U. amethystina and establish the phylogenetic relationships between U. sect. foliosa and U. sect. Psyllosperma. The issue that surrounds the complex U. amethystina will be addressed through taxonomic revision, morphometry, ISSR and the use of three coding regions of the chloroplast (matK, rps16 and trnL) that will also infer the relationships within both sections.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BALEEIRO, PAULO C.; GONELLA, PAULO M.; SANO, PAULO T.; JOBSON, RICHARD W.. Unveiling Utricularia amethystina's true colours: a taxonomic revision of one of the largest species complexes (U. sect. Foliosa, Lentibulariaceae). PHYTOTAXA, v. 576, n. 1, p. 26-pg., 2022-12-15. (13/02729-8)