Thismia singeri (Thismiaceae), an augmented description and first record for Brazil

Abstract

Thismia singeri, is described for the first time for Brazil, being the first record of this family for Para Śtate and the third record for this rare species in nature. In Para ´state, northern Brazil, this species was found growing in Itaituba municipality near the River Tapajo ´s, in a well preserved submontane rain forest with a dense canopy. Due to the holotype is incomplete, we provide a more comprehensive description for this species based on complete individuals, thus clarifying some aspects of its morphology such as the parietal placenta, the root system, and tepal morphology. This is the second species of Thismiaceae described for Amazonia. Thismia hyalina, the other Amazonian species, is easily distinguished from T. singeri by its tubers, leaves inserted just below the flower, the latter with two tepal whorls, the upper one clawed, reniform and erect, and the lower one linear triangular.

Thismia panamensis: first record of Thismiaceae for the Brazilian Cerrado in Goiás state

“…Therefore, there is a gap of occurrence of Thismiaceae between the Amazonia and the Atlantic Rainforest, which is covered by the Brazilian Cerrado. Because of its rare occurrence and very small habit, some authors have made new descriptions of this genus and new distributions in recent years (e.g., Dančák et al 2013;Voloschen et al 2013;Truong et al 2014).…”

“…With the assistance of the literature (Maas et al 1986;Mancinelli et al 2012;Voloschen et al 2013), we have identified the species as Thismia panamensis (Standl.) Jonker (Figure 2).…”

Ombrohydrochory in Thismia panamensis (Standley) Jonk: a mycoheterotrophic species in Brazilian Cerrado forests

“…Nevertheless, these observations deserve further evaluation, as our data were obtained with drops 1.2 m from the ground, whereas for drops that fall from higher elevations, such as the canopy at >30 m, the dispersion distance can increase significantly. Similar data, even without the evaluation of spatial distribution, suggest that Thismia populations are always clumped (Chantanaorrapint 2012; Li & Bi 2013; Voloschen et al 2013; Mar & Saunders 2015; Suetsugu et al 2018), which may be related to more humid parts of the habitat, specific interactions, or even some specific dispersal mechanism (Gomes et al 2019).…”

“…clavigera , suggesting that seed dispersal occurred by rain splash. Cup‐shaped, dehiscent fruits are a common characteristic conserved in this group, being reported for several species of the genus (Jarvie 1996; Chantanaorrapint 2008; Voloschen et al 2013; Mar & Saunders 2015; Suetsugu et al 2018; Silva et al 2020). A unilocular ovary, with a straight and smooth inner epidermis, as well as exposure of seeds to a mucilaginous matrix inside the fruits, as observed in T .…”

“…Currently, 85 species of Thismia are described, with pantropical distribution, predominantly in the Malay Peninsula, Australia and South America (Dančák et al 2020). In Brazil, there are approximately 13 species of Thismia , seven of which are endemic (Flora do Brasil, 2020), distributed in the Amazon, with six species recorded (Voloschen et al 2013; Silva et al 2020), and in the Atlantic Forest, with nine species recorded (Maas et al 1986; Mancinelli et al 2012; Souza & Lorenzi 2012). Recently, a first record of the Thismiaceae for the Cerrado was recorded: Thismia panamensis (Guilherme et al 2016), the focal species of this study.…”