Cyrtosperma prasinispathum: a new fascinating Aroid species from Papua, Indonesia

From Firenze University Press Journal: Journal of Plant Taxonomy and Geography (Webbia)

Muhammad R. Hariri, Research Center for Biosystematics and Evolution, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN)

Arifin S.D. Irsyam, Herbarium Bandungense, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Institut Teknologi Bandung

Siti R. Ariati, Herbarium Bandungense, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Institut Teknologi Bandung

Erick Raynalta, Botani Tropika Indonesia Foundation (Botanika)

Dwi Setyanti, Directorate for Scientific Collections Management, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN)

Ikar Supriyanta, Directorate for Scientific Collections Management, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN)

Cyrtosperma Griffith (1851: 149) is the only oligotypic aroid genus exhibiting higher diversity to the east than to the west of Wallace’s Line, comprising 14 species spread of which 13 occur east of Wallace’s Line (Hay 1988; Dearden and Hay 2001; Hay and Imran 2020; Raynalta et al. 2024). In 2024, we conducted an examination of the living collection of Cyr-tosperma collected from the Southwest Papua Province, which is currently kept in the Bogor Botanic Gardens (BBG). It has come to our attention that certain specimens previously labelled as C. hambalii A.Dearden & A.Hay exhibit notable morphological traits that do not align with the assigned name. After further examination we have considered that the specimens are new to science. The new species can be distinguished from C. hambalii based on its vegetative and generative morphological characteristics. In this study, we provide a comprehensive description and accompanying photo-graph of a newly described species of Cyrtosperma found in the Indonesian region of Papua.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/jopt-16076

Read Full Text: https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/webbia/article/view/16076