Study of the botanical collections of Theobroma L. and Herrania Goudot (Malvaceae, Byttnerioideae) of the USA

• Grant number: 21/08635-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: September 11, 2022
• End date: January 10, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Plant Taxonomy
• Principal Investigator: José Rubens Pirani
• Grantee: Matheus Colli Silva
• Supervisor: Fabian A. Michelangeli
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: New York Botanical Garden (NYBG), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/01375-1 - Unraveling cacao: systematics and evolution of Theobroma L. and Herrania Goudot (Malvaceae, Byttnerioideae), BP.DR

Abstract

The "cacao group" is composed by 38 species of Amazonian trees from the genera Theobroma L. and Herrania Goudot (Malvaceae, Byttnerioideae). Both genera gather c. 11,300 thousand specimen collections found at herbaria, and almost half of these samples, i.e., 5,400 (48% of all exsiccates), are found at American collections of New York, Washington DC, Saint Louis and Chicago. Concurrently, current phylogenetic relationships between genera and their species, which are the focus of the PhD thesis related to this project, are being unraveled towards revisiting the infrageneric taxonomic delimitations under modern analytic tools. Thus, the "cacao group" is target of many taxonomic, evolutionary and genomic studies that can bring significant contributions on the structural and genetic heterogeneity of an Amazonian group of relevance. Specifically, this internship proposal, with duration of four months, aims to subsidize the examination of the group preserved specimen collections of the USA. The internship will also enable the consultation of living materials cultivated in botanical collections of these institutions, as well as morphological analyses of vegetative and reproductive structures, to produce botanical illustrations and updated taxonomic descriptions of the taxa. By revisiting the nomenclature and taxonomy of the "cacao group" and collecting primary data from relevant collections, this internship will allow the completion fundamental chapters of the PhD thesis related to this project, which will produce as outcomes at least two manuscripts for publication. (AU)

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)

COLLI-SILVA, MATHEUS; PIRANI, JOSE RUBENS; DORR, LAURENCE J.. (2950) Proposal to conserve the name Cacao sylvestris (Theobroma sylvestre) (Malvaceae: Byttnerioideae) with a conserved type. Taxon, v. 72, n. 2, p. 3-pg., 2023-04-01. (20/10206-9, 21/08635-1, 20/01375-1)