Botanists José Luis Fernández-Alonso, of the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid, and Ernesto Campos, research technician at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama, named six new tree species based on comparisons made among collections of dried plant specimens from across the Neotropics. Of these six, three of the new species have only been found in Panama: Matisia petaquillae, Matisia changuinolana and Matisia aquilarum. The new species from Colombia identified in the same report are Matisia genesiana, Matisia mutatana and Matisia rufula.
The first two Panamanian species were named in reference to the places where they were collected and the third, Matisia aquilarum, found in Chagres National Park, was named in reference to the presence of a Harpy Eagle nest in the tree, recorded by ornithologist Karla Aparicio and botanist Ruby Zambrano.
Botanists often collect large numbers of plant samples. The samples are dried, pressed between pieces of cardboard, and then mounted on special paper and filed in herbaria. Herbaria are specialized collections of dried plants, carefully stored in environmentally controlled spaces for the long-term preservation of specimens. Currently, herbarium curators have created online digital images of many specimens that facilitate access and exchange of knowledge.
But it still depends on expert plant taxonomists to identify the samples. Plant specimens that cannot be easily identified may wait years until the expert in a particular group of plants compares collections from across the region and has the final say on whether a sample represents a species that no one has encountered before.
"In 2022, Fernández-Alonso contributed to confirming the identification of another tree, Matisia tinamastiana, from Cerro Trinidad in the Altos de Campana Forest Reserve and National Park, which turned out to be a new report for Panama," Campos said. "This gave rise to our current collaboration."
To identify this new set of species, Fernández-Alonso analyzed plant samples stored in herbariums in Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, and the United States. In Panama, with the help of Ernesto Campos, it was possible to complete revisions of the collections of herbaria at the University of Panama (PMA), Summit Canal Zone (SCZ) housed at STRI, and at the Autonomous University of Chiriquí (UCH).
Thanks to collections made by STRI senior botanists, Rolando Pérez and Salomón Aguilar, it was possible to expand the distribution range of Matisia aquilarum, with a specimen found at a study site in Chagres National Park. The site is part of the ForestGEO-STRI forest monitoring network. This additional specimen, used for the description of the species, belonged to a collection at STRI, which was later deposited in the SCZ herbarium and thus contributes to increasing the representativeness of species in that collection.
"We are currently working on the identification of other plant samples with the support of Joana Sumich, technician in the SCZ herbarium. Some were collected decades ago by Pérez and Aguilar in the ForestGEO plots and we have indications that there may be more species in their collections that are new records for Panama or new to science," said David Mitre.
To make it easier for non-experts to identify the plants in this group, the authors include an updated dichotomous key of Matisia species for Panama in their manuscript. The last published identification key for Panama of this kind dates back more than half a century.
"Herbaria are not just collections of dried plants," said David Mitre, research manager for ForestGEO-STRI in Panama, "they are a source of new information in the long term."
"Discoveries like this remind us how important it is to make sure that protected areas are really well protected," Mitre said. The forests of Panama and Colombia are home to many plant species that are not only important to the animals that live there but may be sources of new pharmaceuticals and other resources, of which we are not yet aware.
"Smithsonian plant collections and the talented curators on our staff give researchers from around the world the ability to correctly identify plants," said Joshua Tewksbury, STRI Director. "This window into the world of plants leads to discoveries of new pharmaceuticals and makes it possible for conservationists to justify protection for natural areas where rare species flourish."
Reference:
Fernández-Alonso, José Luis y Ernesto Campos Pineda. 2024. Malvaceae neotropicae novae vel minus cognitae XII. Nuevas especies de Matisia de Colombia y Panamá. Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas, y Naturales. 48(189)897-921, octubre-diciembre de 2024 doi:https://doi.org/10.18257/raccefyn.3072.
