One new endemic plant species on average per month in New Caledonia, including eight more new species from Île Art (Belep Islands), a major micro-hotspot in need of protection

Abstract

The New Caledonian biodiversity hotspot contains many micro-hotspots that exhibit high plant micro-endemism, and that are facing different types and intensities of threats. The Belep archipelago, and especially Île Art, with 24 and 21 respective narrowly endemic species (1 Extinct, 21 Critically Endangered and 2 Endangered), should be considered as the most sensitive micro-hotspot of plant diversity in New Caledonia because of the high anthropogenic threat of fire. Nano-hotspots could also be defined for the low forest remnants of the southern and northern plateaus of Île Art. With an average rate of more than one new species described for New Caledonia each month since January 2000 and five new endemics for the Belep archipelago since 2009, the state of knowledge of the flora is steadily improving. The present account of eight new species from Île Art (Bocquillonia montrouzieri Gâteblé & McPherson, Cleidion artense Gâteblé & McPherson, Endiandra artensis Munzinger & McPherson, Eugenia belepiana J.W.Dawson ex N.Snow, Eugenia insulartensis J.W.Dawson ex N.Snow, Macaranga latebrosa Gâteblé & McPherson, Planchonella serpentinicola Swenson & Munzinger and Psychotria neodouarrei Barrabé & A.Martini) further demonstrates the need both to recognise the Belep Islands as a major New Caledonian micro-hotspot and to formulate concrete conservation programs for the archipelago.

Widespread morphological parallelism in Korthalsella (Santalaceae, tribe Visceae): A molecular phylogenetic perspective

“…At least two species occur in New Caledonia, but these also require further investigation. Korthalsella amentacea is an enigmatic species collected on Île Art (Belep archipelago), a micro-hotspot bearing high plant micro-endemism (Gâteblé & al., 2019). Its affinity with related K. papuana needs to be investigated.…”

High‐resolution distribution modeling of a threatened short‐range endemic plant informed by edaphic factors

“…By specifically choosing to develop the edaphic-SDM based on the geomorphological and soil features that inform the microclim data set (Kearney, Isaac, et al, 2014), we were able to calculate microclim estimates across the projection area, including below-ground microclimate. One of the challenges facing studies of SRE flora, especially in highly biodiverse landscapes such as the BIF outcrops of south-western Western Australia (Gibson, Prober, Meissner, & Leeuwen, 2017;Gibson et al, 2010), Table Mountain National Park in South Africa (Helme & Trinder-Smith, 2006), or archipelagos such as New Caledonia (Gâteblé et al, 2019;Kier et al, 2009) is that there may be a large number of SRE species, but they are usually either entirely unique, or a unique clade of closely related species within a taxon. One of the challenges facing studies of SRE flora, especially in highly biodiverse landscapes such as the BIF outcrops of south-western Western Australia (Gibson, Prober, Meissner, & Leeuwen, 2017;Gibson et al, 2010), Table Mountain National Park in South Africa (Helme & Trinder-Smith, 2006), or archipelagos such as New Caledonia (Gâteblé et al, 2019;Kier et al, 2009) is that there may be a large number of SRE species, but they are usually either entirely unique, or a unique clade of closely related species within a taxon.…”

“…We feel that our proposed approach is advantageous to the study of short-range endemism due to its breadth of applicability. One of the challenges facing studies of SRE flora, especially in highly biodiverse landscapes such as the BIF outcrops of south-western Western Australia (Gibson, Prober, Meissner, & Leeuwen, 2017;Gibson et al, 2010), Table Mountain National Park in South Africa (Helme & Trinder-Smith, 2006), or archipelagos such as New Caledonia (Gâteblé et al, 2019;Kier et al, 2009) is that there may be a large number of SRE species, but they are usually either entirely unique, or a unique clade of closely related species within a taxon. In either case, it is very difficult to untangle the paired effects of ecology and phylogeny (Felsenstein, 1985).…”

The genus Indigofera (Leguminosae) in New Caledonia: two new species and a key for the species

“…According to the French taxonomic repository (Gargominy et al 2018), Leguminosae are represented by 39 genera (5% endemic to the island), 103 species (32% endemic), 6 subspecies and 13 varieties. General endemism in this collectivity is estimated at c. 76.4% (Jaffré 1993) and no doubt many taxa still remain to be described (Morat 2010, Gâteblé et al 2018). New Caledonia also includes 2008 introduced species (Héquet et al 2009).…”