A new, unexpected species belonging to the genus Neolloydia Br. & R. An adult specimen of Neolloydia inexpectata: the confusion with a young Coryphanta is easy Neolloydia inexpectata D. Donati sp. nov. text and photos by Davide Donati Cactaceae I n t r odu ct ion : The genus Neolloydia was creat ed by Brit t on and Rose in 1922, and included ( on t op of t he various t axa now m erged int o Neolloydia conoidea Br. & R) Coryphant ha clavat a ( Scheidw.) Backeb., Turbinicarpus horripilus ( Lem .) V.John & Riha, T. laui Glass & R.A.Fost er ( Neolloydia pilispina sensu Br.&R.) and Rapicact us beguinii ( N.P.Taylor) Lüt hy. Whilst Backeberg added ot her t axa now belonging t o Coryphant ha ( Eng.) Lem . and Escobaria Br. & Rose, in 1986 E. F. Anderson included in Neolloydia t he ent ire genus Turbinicarpus Buxb. & Backeb. ( including Rapicact us, sensu Lüt hy) , followed by Lym an Benson who added Echinom ast us Br. & Rose, bringing us inally to the scarcely justiied proposal by Halda to m erge Neolloydia int o Pediocact us Br. & Rose. Genet ic st udies, like t hose by But t erwort h et al. ( 2002) and Barcenas et al. ( 2011) , have shown t hat Neolloydia belongs t o a different clade t han t he above- m ent ioned genera, being closer t o Coryphant ha and Mam m illaria Haw. The genus has been considered monospeciic for a long time by the majority of the botanical world, but in 2006 Hunt et al. reconsidered Neolloydia m at ehualensis Backeb. as a dist inct species from N. conoidea, a well justiied choice, both from a morphological point of view and the fact that in the Huizache (San Luis Potosì, Mex) area, the two species almost share their habit at , separat ed only by a few hundred m et ers, wit hout form ing any hybrids. I n any case, t he Neolloydia genus includes globular- elongat ed plant s, solit ary or clum ping, wit h deeply incised conical t ubercles, bearing bipart it e areoles, t heir apical and axillary portions connected by a hairy groove, and axillary lowers with usually naked pericarpel. These plants produce two types of fruit: the main fruit is globular-elongated, initially leshy then dry, rather visible; but there are also very small and not very leshy fruits, that remain hidden at t he base of t he t ubercles and are “ expelled” when t he plant becom es very swollen aft er abundant rain. The seeds, wit h a papillat e int egum ent , have a peculiarly ‘Y’ shaped basal hilum and an ext ernal m icropyle, a charact er t hat Neolloydia shares wit h som e m em bers of t he genus Rapicact us sensu Lüt hy ( 2003) and D.Donat i ( 2003) . 2 3 Th e colle ct e d da t a The areas close to the lowermost part of the boundary between the Mexican States of Nuevo Leòn and Tamaulipas are characterized by mountain ranges with variable heights, starting wit h low hills, going right up t o high m ount ain ranges and culm inat ing wit h Peña Nevada. Despit e t he rat her dry clim at e, t his area support s a great biodiversit y, and is generally covered, at low- m edium alt it udes, by fairly dense xerophilous veget at ion. During t he explorat ion of very low gravelly hills, I found a very peculiar form of Neolloydia, as det ailed in t he following t able t hat com pares it wit h N. conoidea and N.m at ehualensis: N . con oide a N . m a t e h u a le n sis On the foreground N. inexpectata, on the backgrond N. conoidea: the species live separeted by few dozen of centimetres N . sp. Body globular- cylindrical, elongat ed, oft en clum ping cylindrical- elongat ed, clum ping globular- depressed, when old scarcery elongat ed Epiderm is green glaucous green Tubercles conical, m ore or less elongat ed, num erous long and swollen, few in num ber wide and short , num erous Cent ral spines 0- 8, brownish- black, rat her elngat ed and and neele- like 3- 4, greyish- black, t hin and elongat ed 1- 3 ( 4) , brownish-yellow, posit ioned like a bird’s foot , t he lower one poinit ing downwards, t he ot hers point ing upwards Radial spines 13 - 28, whit e 8 - 13, whit e 118 - 25,upper spiner longer and m ore coloured, t he rem aining whit e Flower m agent a liliac, pet als wit h sligly irregular borders m agent a, sm all Young plant s from elogat ed t o very elongat ed, wit h lit t le developed hypogeal part of the stem, ibrous root very elongat ed, wit h lit t le developed hypogeal part of the stem, ibrous root globular- depressed, wit h hypogeal neck, short t hickened t aproot ending wit h bundled root s The sim ple m orphological observat ion would lead one t o t hink of an ext rem e form of N. conoidea, but after inding a small colony of this plant sharing its habitat with the typical Neolloydia conoidea, showing two quite distinct taxa living as close as a few dozen centimetres from each ot her, has im pelled m e t o perform furt her research on t his peculiar t axon. D iscu ssion Considering t hat : − − − − t he adult specim ens of t his t axon show a rat her peculiar m orphology, wit h a globular, globular/ depressed st em , elongat ed in very old specim ens and plant s growing in part ial shade, wit h wide and short t ubercles, short and robust spinat ion; so t hat t his plant could be easily m ist aken for an im m at ure specim en of Coryphant ha; t he im m at ure specim ens of t his t axon frequent ly show a depressed st em , som et im es lattened on the ground during the dry season, whilst the hypogeal portion of the st em is rat her developed, result ing from subt erranean cont ract ions during t he early growing phases and basal t hickening, frequent ly form ing a short t hickened t aproot which have bundled root s; this plant occupies a rather small and well deined, albeit fragmented, distribution range, wit h t he t ot al num ber of individuals not very high, alt hough t here are som e spot s wit h a relat ively high num ber of plant s. a sm all colony of t his Neolloydia grows t oget her wit h t ypical Neolloydia conoidea and it’s very easy to distinguish the two plants, without inding any morphologically doubt ful specim ens; the two plant lower at the same time; Based on t he current ly available dat a, I believe t hat t his Neolloydia should be described as a new species. 4 5 N eolloydia inex pect at a D.Donat i sp. nov. Neolloydia, corpore depressi- globoso, solum vet ust at e ovoidei- elongat o, ad 12 cm diam et ro ; t uberculis brevibus lat isque ; cent ralibus spinis 1- 3 ( 4) , brevibus robust isque, avipodiform e disposit is ( unus sursum , alteri deorsum), bruneolavis, impolitis ; radialibus spinis 18-25, superis longioribus, robustioribus colorat ioribusque, alt eris albidis ; j uvent ut e depressi- globoso corpore cum elongat o t enuique subt erraneo collo superant i unicum brevum napiform em radicem fascicularibus radicibus t erm inat um . Typus a m ihi designat us : leg. Hinton et al., 29254, “MEXICO. Tamaulipas: Southern Tamaulipas, on low hills and alluvial plains, 850 m, 24th February 2011” ; Holotypus Herb. Geo. B. Hinton, Isotypus MEXU. A Neolloydia wit h globular- depressed st em , ovoid- elongat ed only in old specim ens, up t o 12cm in diam et er; short and wide t ubercles; 1- 3 ( 4) short and robust cent ral spines, arranged like a bird’s foot wit h one spine point ing downwards and t he ot hers point ing upwards, brownish-yellow, dull; 18- 25 radial spines, upper spines longer, m ore robust and coloured, t he ot hers whit e; im m at ure plant s globulardepressed, wit h an elongat ed and t hin hypogeal part , and a short t aproot ending wit h bundled root s. Con clu sion The inding of this new and unexpected Neolloydia has, in m y opinion, a relevant im pact on t he Neolloydia genus it self ( as it is considered t oday) , since it s exist ence raises t he following quest ion: I s Neolloydia conoidea really an ext rem ely polym orphic species, or conversely, a num ber of dist inct species t hat have been neglect ed and included in a single species for lack of in- dept h st udies? Det ailed st udies in sit u and in t he lab will be necessary t o answer t his im port ant , albeit underest im at ed, quest ion. Ack n ow le dge m e n t s Many thanks to Mr. George S. Hinton for his help and support. Thanks t o Gérard Dum ont for t he Lat in diagnosis In this page: an adult specimen of N. conoidea On the other page: young specimens of N. conoidea, with the typical elongate shape 6 7 A very young, globose-depressed N. inexpectata small photo: Holotype of N. inexpectata (photo G. S. Hinton) Bibliogr a ph y ANDERSON, E.F. (1986). A revision of the genus Neolloydia B. & R. ( Cact aceae) . Bradleya 4: 1- 28. BACKEBERG, C. ( 1960) . Die Cact aceae. BACKEBERG, C. ( 1972) . Cact us Lexicon. BARCENAS, R.T., YESSON, C., HAWKINS, J.A. (2011): Molecular systematic of the Cact aceae. Cladist ics 27: 1- 20. BENSON, L. (1974). New taxa and nomenclature changes in the Cact aceae. Cact . Succ. J. ( Los Angeles) 46: 79- 8l. BUTTERWORTH, C.A., COTA-SANCHEZ, H., WALLACE, R.S. (2002). Molecular systematics of t ribe Cact eae ( Cact aceae: Cact oideae) : a phylogeny based on rpl16 int ron sequence variat ion. Syst . Bot . 27, 257–270. HALDA, J. J. (1998). A new system of the genus Pediocact us Britt. & Rose. Act. Mus. Rich. Sect . nat . 5: 12- 27. HUNT, D., et al. (2006): The New Cactus Lexicon. 8 9