Selbyana 20(2): 201-223. 1999. CHECKLIST OF BOLIVIAN BROMELIACEAE WITH NOTES ON SPECIES DISTRIBUTION AND LEVELS OF ENDEMISM THORSTEN KROMER AND MICHAEL KESSLER I Albrecht-von-Haller Institut ffir Pflanzenwissenschaften der Universitat Gottingen, Abteilung Systematische Botanik, Untere Karsptile 2, Gottingen, D-37073. E-mail forMK:[email protected] BRUCE K. HOLST* AND HARRY E. LUTHER The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 811 South Palm Ave., Sarasota, FL 34236 USA. E-mail for BKH: [email protected] ERIC J. GOUDA University Botanic Gardens, P.O. Box 80.162, NL-3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands E-mail: [email protected] PIERRE L. I1nsCH Fundaci6n Amigos de la NaturalezaIBotanical Institute of the University of Bonn, Germany, Casilla 2241, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. E-mail: [email protected] WALTER TILL Botanical Institute of the University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, A-1030, Wien, Austria E-mail: [email protected] ROBERTO V A.SQUEZ Sociedad Boliviana de Botanica, Casilla 3822, Santa Cruz, Bolivia E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT. A discussion of Bromeliaceae diversity in Bolivia, and a checklist of the 21 genera and 281 species occuring there is presented. Each species entry in the checklist includes accepted name, compre­ hensive synonymy for all species described based on Bolivian types, additional pertinent synonymy, ele­ vation range above sea level, distribution by department, and an indication of which species are endemic to Bolivia. RESUMEN. Aqui se describe la diversidad de la familia Bromeliaceae en Bolivia. Se incluye un listado de los 21 generos y 281 especies que occurren ahi. Cada especie en ellistado contiene inforrnaci6n del nombre aceptado, sinonimia comprensiva para cada especie descrita en base a muestras Bolivianas, sinonimia pertinente adicional, rango de elevaci6n sobre el nivel del mar, distribuci6n por departamento, y se indica caules especies son endemicas a Bolivia. Key words: Bromeliaceae, Bolivia, checklist, endemic INTRODUCTION Bolivian bromeliads (Smith 1969). These in­ clude seven genera (Araeococcus, Catopsis, The checklist presented here provides updated Deinacanthon, Greigia, Mezobromelia, Pepinia, information on the diversity and distribution of and Werauhia) and 125 species. Nevertheless, it Bromeliaceae in Bolivia. Numerous collections is clear that the record is incomplete, and further in the last two decades, especially from field­ surveys are needed to clarify taxonomic prob­ work by S.G. Beck, H. & L. Hromadnik, M. lems and fragmentary distribution records. Kessler, P. Ibisch, R. V iisquez, and T. Kromer, have resulted in the addition of many new re­ cords for the flora since the last summary of METHODS The following herbaria were surveyed for col­ * Corresponding author. lections from Bolivia: Herbario Nacional de Bo- 201 202 SELBYANA Volume 20(2) 1999 livia, La paz (LPB), Museo de Historia Natural TABLE 1. Species numbers of Bromeliaceae in Boliv­ Noel Kempff, Santa Cruz (USZ), The Marie ia, arranged by subfamily and genus. Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota (SEL), the Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis (MO), In­ No. species No. species endemic to stitute of Botany, University of Vienna (WU), Subfamily/Genus in Bolivia Bolivia Utrecht Univerisity, Utrecht (U), and the person­ al Herbarium of R. Vasquez, Santa Cruz PITCAIRNIOIDEAE (VASQ). Principal literature references used Deuterocohnia 11 5 were the Flora Neotropica Monograph Brome­ Dyckia 6 2 15 liaceae treatments (Smith & Downs 1974, 1977, Fosterella 20 Pepinia 1 1979), a preliminary country checklist by R. Pitcairnia 15 8 Foster (1958), a country-level family treatment Puya 57 47 by L.B. Smith (1969), and a modem epiphyte Subtotal: 110 77 survey by P. Ibisch (1996). While an attempt BROMELIOIDEAE was made to verify specimens of all taxa in­ cluded in the list, the occurrence of some species Aechmea 10 Ananas 2 in Bolivia is only known to us from literature Araeococcus 1 sources or from identifications made by other Billbergia 8 3 botanists. For these, an indication of the citation Bromelia 4 or determiner source is made in the list. Deinacanthon 1 The checklist was compiled from a database Greigia 3 3 prepared at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Pseudananas 1 which includes approximately 2250 herbarium Subtotal: 30 7 records. Author abbreviations follow Brummitt TILLANDSIOIDEAE and Powell (1992), abbreviations ofliterature ci­ Catopsis 1 tations follow Stafteu and Cowan (1976-1988) Guzmania 17 for books, and Lawrence et al. (1968) for jour­ Mezobromelia 2 nals. Herbarium acronyms follow Holmgren et Racinaea 12 2 al. (1990). All basionyms are included, jiS well Tillandsia 97 31 as all species-level names based on types from Vriesea 9 Bolivia and pertinent recent synonymy. Distri­ Werauhia 3 1 Subtotal: 141 35 bution at the department level in Bolivia and the elevational range where the species occur are Family total: 281 119 listed after each species, as well as the type col­ lection, country where the type was collected, and where possible, an additional voucher spec­ Amazonia, the Gran Chaco, and the Brazilian imen. The word "Endemic" is added if the spe­ Shield (FIGURE 1). cies is wholly confined to the political bound­ The 281 recorded species from the country aries of Bolivia. (TABLE 1; APPENDIX) is still well below the num­ Nomenclature used in the checklist follows ber to be expected. Based on a species/area re­ that used in An Alphabetic list of Bromeliad Bi­ lationship in comparison to Peru, Ibisch (1996) nomials (Luther & Sieff 1998) which recognizes estimated a total 300-350 bromeliad species for three recently created or resurrected genera: Ra­ Bolivia. Considering the increase in species cinaea (Spencer & Smith 1993), Werauhia numbers in the last decades (on average, about (Grant 1995), and Pepinia (Varadarajan & Gil­ four new species have been found per year since martin 1988). Species which formerly belonged 1969), this estimate seems realistic. In 1997, to Streptocalyx can now be found in Aechmea seven new species were described from Bolivia (Smith & Spencer 1992). (Till & Hromadnik 1997, Luther 1997, Ibisch et al. 1997, Gross 1997, Ehlers 1997, Ehlers & Hromadnik 1997, Till 1997); in 1998, six new RESULTS AND DISCUSSION taxa were described (Luther 1998a, 1998b), among them, three Greigia species; and in 1999 Although Bolivia's species totals still rank be­ at least 8 new species have been published low those of other Andean countries (see Holst (lbisch et al. 1999, Luther 1999, Ibisch et al. 1994), the number of genera (21, see TABLE 1) 1999, Kessler et al. 1999). Among the two latter is second only to Venezuela. This high number papers are five new Fosterella species. reflects the unique biogeographical position of Almost 43% of the Bolivian bromeliads are Bolivia at the meeting point of the humid north­ endemic to the country (TABLE 1). This high ern and central Andes, the dry southern Andes, number is due in large part to terrestrial taxa, KROMER ET AL.: BOLIVIAN BROMELIACEAE 203 pIing or the fact that some morphologically and ecologically variable species (e.g., P. cardenasii, P. crassa, P. trianae) may include more than one species. BRAZIL Another striking feature of the Bolivian bro­ meliad flora is the low number of large, green, PERU tank bromeliads in the Tillandsioideae and Bro­ melioideae in the genera Guzmania, Tillandsia, Vriesea, and Aechmea. While this is in part due to inadequate sampling, these groups have their centers of diversity elsewhere; southeastern Bra­ zil for Aechmea and Vriesea, and the northern Andes for Guzmania and Tillandsia. Three departments contain more than 100 spe­ cies each, La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz (TABLE 2). While these appear to be the best CHILE sampled (ca. 1700 ofthe 2250 collection records in our database come from there), they are also the most varied topographically. At the other 250 KM end of the sampling spectrum, our database con­ ARGENTINA tains only two Bromeliaceae collections from < 500 m Oruro and 10 from Pando. While nearly all lo­ 500 -1500 m co = COCHABAMBA calities merit further collection for new Brome­ 1500 - 3000 m CH = CHUQUISACA liaceae, priorities include the humid mid-eleva­ tion forests (1500-2500 m) in La Paz, semi-hu­ > 3000 m TA =TARIJA mid forests at the transition of dry, rainshad­ ~ ~ ~ - Departmental boundaries owed valleys to humid montane forest in almost FIGURE 1. Bolivia. Political subdivsions and broad any valley system in La Paz and adjacent Co­ elevational zones. chabamba, and the interior portions of Ambor6 National Park in Santa Cruz. Although brome­ liads occur at low densities in the Amazonian particularly those in the subfamily Pitcairnioi­ lowlands, a thorough search in Pando and the deae which has three genera (Deuterocohnia, Amazonian part of Beni should yield elements Fosterella, Puya) with centers of diversity in of the Brazilian bromeliad flora which are not Bolivia (Ibisch 1996). Eleven out of 15 Deute­ yet known from Bolivia. Likewise, the dry Cha­ rocohnia species, 20 of approximately 25 Fos­ co lowland and foothill forests of Chuquisaca terella species occur in Bolivia, and 47 of the and Tarija are likely to yield new discoveries. In nearly 200 species of Puya are endemic. Some­ most need of study taxonomically are the terres­ what surprisingly, the number of Pitcairnia spe­ trial and saxicolous genera, particularly Puya cies (15) is low compared to other Andean coun­ and Pitcairnia, and the largely epiphytic genus tries. This may be the result of inadequate sam- Tillandsia. TABLE 2. Bromeliaceae species diversity, number of department- and country-level political endemic species, and number of collection records in database used. No. BoHvian No. species wholly endemic species endemic to each f'Ound in each No. collection Department No~ species department department records in database La Paz 154 23 45 714 Santa Cruz 119 20 37 575 Cochabamba 115 14 35 417 Chuquisaca 65 8 24 220 Tarija 63 12 18 146 PotOSI 30 3 12 78 Beni 28 2 67 Pando 6 10 Oruro 2 2 204 SELBYANA Volume 20(2) 1999 The database resulting from this project is !bisch, P.L., R.