A hundred years’ tale: rediscovery of Mollinedia stenophylla (Monimiaceae) in the Atlantic rainforest, Brazil E LTON J OHN DE L ÍRIO,JOELCIO F REITAS,RAQUEL N EGRÃO G USTAVO M ARTINELLI and A RIANE L UNA P EIXOTO Abstract The plant Mollinedia stenophylla Perkins The Protected Area of Macaé de Cima, in the Nova (Monimiaceae) is endemic to southern Brazil and, until Friburgo municipality, holds the highest number of , had not been seen for years. We located a single Monimiaceae species in the state ( species) and in Brazil population of the species on the margin of a watercourse (Peixoto & Pereira-Moura, ; IUCN, b). Seven are in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro state. We de- endemic to the area and some are known only from th scribe the location of the species, comment on its morph- century collections. This area is important for conservation ology, ecology and conservation, assess its conservation because of the presence of species with restricted distribu- status, propose conservation measures, and discuss the po- tions (Diniz et al., ). tential value of local action plans for this and other narrow Mollinedia stenophylla was described by Perkins () endemic plant species. Mollinedia stenophylla has whorled based on specimens collected by Glaziou in (Glaziou, leaves, clonal reproduction and a low height, unusual traits n. ) and (n. ), both from Macaé de Cima. in the genus Mollinedia. Using the IUCN Red List criteria Another specimen was collected in (Riedell & we assess the species as Critically Endangered. This example Luschnath, n. ), from the same locality, but not cited by highlights the importance of investing time in plant surveys Perkins in the protologue. Since the collection of these spe- and taxonomy, especially in megadiverse countries such as cimens no living population had been encountered, despite Brazil. extensive fieldwork in the area during – (Lima & Guedes-Bruni, ). However, in we rediscovered a Keywords Brazil, clonal reproduction, habitat specificity, population of M. stenophylla in Macaé de Cima (Fig. )in Monimiaceae, narrow endemic, point endemic, Red List, the same area where it had last been collected years threatened species previously. onimiaceae is a pantropical family of flowering plants There is a general concern in plant conservation regard- Mcomprising genera and c. species (Renner ing the best strategies to conserve narrow endemic species et al., ) occurring mainly in moist and well conserved such as M. stenophylla. Potential strategies include research forests, with many species being rare and endemic to re- on artificial propagation, ecophysiology and pollination, stricted areas (Philipson, ; Peixoto & Pereira-Moura, monitoring, threat mitigation, reintroduction and ex situ ) and thus susceptible to threats such as deforestation conservation (Martins et al., ; Zhang et al., ; and fires (Peixoto et al., ). The family is highly diversi- Kraaij et al., ). Here we describe the geographical distri- fied in Neotropical rain forests, including in Brazil, and par- bution of M. stenophylla, comment on its morphology, ecol- ticularly in the state of Rio de Janeiro, where five genera and ogy and conservation, and make a new Red List assessment. species occur, mostly on mountains (BFG, ). Branches of eight plants with flowers and fruits were col- lected (Lírio vouchers , , , , , , , ) and deposited at RB, M, MBML, NY and P herbaria (acronyms follow Thiers, ). Extent of Occurrence ELTON JOHN DE LÍRIO (Corresponding author), GUSTAVO MARTINELLI* and ARIANE LUNA PEIXOTO Escola Nacional de Botânica Tropical, Instituto de Pesquisas (EOO) was calculated using the area of the minimum con- Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Rua Pacheco Leão, 2040, 22460-030, vex polygon, and Area of Occupancy (AOO) using a grid of Horto, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil E-mail [email protected] km cells (IUCN, a). The living population of M. stenophylla was found in the JOELCIO FREITAS Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil surroundings of a waterfall in Macaé de Cima. The species is RAQUEL NEGRÃO Centro Nacional de Conservação da Flora Instituto de Pesquisas dioecious (Plate ), easily recognized by its whorled leaves Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Dipeq, Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, and low height (, m), which are unique characteristics Brazil in the genus Mollinedia. The species has small (c. × . *Also at: Centro Nacional de Conservação da Flora, Instituto de Pesquisas cm), blackish-purple druplets (fruits) with contrasting, Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Dipeq, Jardim Botânico, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil yellowish receptacles (Plate c). Received April . Revision requested June . We observed that M. stenophylla exhibits clonal repro- Accepted November . First published online June . duction, with aerial stems that fall on moist soil and produce Oryx, 2018, 52(3), 437–441 © 2017 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605316001654 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.40.40, on 01 Oct 2021 at 16:09:34, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605316001654 438 E. J. de Lírio et al. FIG. 1 The single known location of Mollinedia stenophylla in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. roots, resulting in new individuals (Plate f), a phenomenon Mollinedia stenophylla could be considered rare (sensu not previously reported for Neotropical Monimiaceae. Rabinowitz et al., ; Caiafa & Martins, ) because of Mature specimens were observed with stems , m tall its narrow geographical range, habitat specificity and low and . cm diameter, an uncommon characteristic in population size. Rare species are more susceptible to extinc- Neotropical Monimiaceae, suggesting a neotenic stage. tion than more common species, and may incorrectly be The rediscovered population had mature individuals, presumed extinct if they have not been observed for many of them pistillate, and c. seedlings, with an AOO of km . years (Collar, ; Penedo et al., ). The restricted distribution of this species is probably a re- In a megadiverse country such as Brazil assessment of the sult of its dependency on water. Its small, coloured druplets extinction risk of species is likely to be slow as there are a are attractive to birds that are potential dispersers for large number of species to assess (only c. % of the native Mollinedia (Lírio et al., ), as for other species of flora of Brazil has so far been assessed), and improving Mollinedia (Lorence, ; Renner & Hausner, ). knowledge of taxonomy and distributions affects previous Mollinedia stenophylla was previously categorized as conservation assessments (Moraes et al., ; CNCFlora, Endangered by Peixoto () and included in the , in press). This highlights the importance of investing Official Threatened Flora Species List of Brazil (MMA, time in visiting herbaria, and in fieldwork and taxonomy, to ), and it is currently categorized as Endangered on update Red Lists. the IUCN Red List, although this needs updating (Varty, We recommend the development of an action plan for ). CNCFlora () assessed the species as Near M. stenophylla, including in situ conservation to control Threatened based on its EOO, including presumed occur- local threats and an ex situ approach to improve cultivation rences in Espírito Santo state, and therefore it wasn’t in- methods, practical management of risks and a strategy to cluded in the Official Threatened Flora Species List maintain genetic diversity (Cavender et al., ). Such strat- of Brazil (MMA, ). However, ongoing revision of egies have been proposed to protect narrow endemic species Neotropical Monimiaceae by EJL and ALP indicates the (Fenu et al., ; Martinell et al., ; Cogoni et al., ;Li species is known only from Macaé de Cima. Specimens et al., ; Martins et al., ). from Espírito Santo state, previously determined as M. ste- Currently, there are six individuals of M. stenophylla in nophylla, appear to be an undescribed species. the living collection of Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, The single known population of M. stenophylla has few which have been cultivated in the greenhouse since individuals, and a restricted distribution at a single location January . However, seeds need to be collected for stor- that is on the access trail to a waterfall, and hence tourism age and the maintenance of genetic diversity, and studies are and housing are the main threats (Mendes, ). Macaé de needed, in natural populations and living collections, of Cima is categorized as a low protection conservation unit in phenology, pollination, dispersal, the dioecious sexual sys- which visitation and human settlement are permitted. It is tem and vegetative reproduction. therefore likely that AOO, EOO and habitat quality will de- Faced with the challenge of preparing action plans for all cline, and M. stenophylla should be recategorized as threatened plants, the National Centre for Flora Critically Endangered based on criteria (IUCN, )Bab Conservation has implemented local action plans (e.g. (ii, iii) + Cai + D. Pougy et al., a,b) for threatened, data deficient and Oryx, 2018, 52(3), 437–441 © 2017 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605316001654 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.40.40, on 01 Oct 2021 at 16:09:34, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605316001654 A hundred years’ tale 439 PLATE