Kupeantha yabassi (Coffeeae-Rubiaceae), a new Critically Endangered shrub species of the Ebo Forest area, Littoral Region, Cameroon

Abstract

SummaryA new species to science of evergreen forest shrub, Kupeantha yabassi M.G.Alvarez & Cheek (Coffeeae - Rubiaceae), is described, illustrated and compared morphologically with the closely similar species K. pentamera. Restricted so far to a single site in evergreen lowland forest near the Ebo Forest, Yabassi, Littoral Region, Cameroon, this species is Critically Endangered using the IUCN 2012 standard due to habitat clearance driven mainly by agriculture, adding to the growing list of threatened species resulting from anthropogenic pressure on Cameroon forests. A revised key to the six species of Kupeantha is presented. Two distinct geographical and ecological species groupings within the genus are identified and discussed. Notes are given on other narrowly endemic and threatened species in the Ebo Forest area, a threatened centre of diversity important for conservation in the Littoral Region.

Rinorea spongiocarpa and Rinorea dimakoensis (Violaceae), new threatened species of forest trees from East and South Regions of Cameroon and Gabon

“…About 2000 plant species new to science are published each year, with Cameroon contributing more than any other tropical African country in 2019 (Cheek et al 2020). New species to science from Cameroon are being published steadily (Alvarez-Aguirre et al 2021;Cheek & Onana 2021;Cheek et al 2017Cheek et al , 2021bCheek et al , 2021cCheek et al , 2022b, even new genera to science (Litt & Cheek 2002;Cheek et al , 2018a. Only when such species as Rinorea spongiocarpa and R. dimakoensis (this paper) are formally known to science are they fully visible and only then can extinction risk assessments be accepted by IUCN allowing the possibility of measures being taken to protect them (Cheek et al 2020).…”

Distribution, habitat use and human disturbance of gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) in the Ebo forest, Littoral Region, Cameroon

“…The Ebo forest is known for its plant diversity which includes many endemic and threatened species. Survey efforts across the Ebo forest since 2005 have resulted in the discovery and description of numerous plant species new to science (Alvarez‐Aguirre et al, 2021; Gosline et al, 2022), several of which have been named after the landscape, including Ardisia ebo , Gilbertiodendron ebo , Inversodicraea ebo , Kupeantha ebo , Palisota ebo and Pseudohydrosme ebo (Cheek et al, 2017, 2018, 2021; Mackinder et al, 2010; van der Burgt et al, 2015). The Ebo forest also contains the Critically Endangered Preuss's red colobus ( Piliocolobus preussi ), the forest elephant ( Loxodonta cyclotis ), the Nigeria‐Cameroon chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes ellioti ) and the drill ( Mandrillus leucophaeus ; Morgan et al, 2011; Whytock & Morgan, 2010).…”

Impatiens banensp. nov. &I. etugeisp. nov. (Balsaminaceae), threatened lowland species of the Cross-Sanaga Interval, Cameroon

“…New species to science from Cameroon are being published steadily, from herbs of waterfalls, forest shrubs to canopy trees (Achoundong et al . 2021; Alvarez-Aguirre et al . 2021; Cheek & Onana 2021; Cheek et al .…”

“…New species to science from Cameroon are being published steadily, from herbs of waterfalls, forest shrubs to canopy trees (Achoundong et al 2021;Alvarez-Aguirre et al 2021;Cheek & Onana 2021;2021b;in press;Gosline et al 2022). Many of these species, including those described in this paper, were collected as part of a programme to produce a series of conservation checklists (see below) for areas of intact natural habitat ranging over much of the Cross-Sanaga interval (Cheek et al 2001).…”