Biology subjects

Gosline, G.

Publications and source records attributed to Gosline, G..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

The generic status of Anacolosa (Olacaceae) in Africa with A. deniseae a new species to science of Endangered submontane forest liana from Simandou, Republic of Guinea.

Anacolosa deniseae Cheek (Olacaceae) a submontane gallery forest canopy liana is described as a new species to science and assessed as Endangered using the IUCN 2012 standard due to threats of habitat destruction connected with mining. The roots smell of benzaldehyde when scraped, and the plant reproduces from root suckers. The species is restricted globally to two locations in the Loma-Man Highlands of the Republic of Guinea, all records but one being in the Pic de Fon Foret Classe of the Simandou Range. We show that this and the only other continental African species ascribed to the genus Anacolosa, A. uncifera of DRC, Gabon & C.A.R., differ in so many architectural, floral and vegetative characters from the remaining species of the genus, which occur from Madagascar to the Western Pacific, including the type A. frutescens (S.E. Asia and Indo-China), that they clearly represent a separate genus. The African genus represented by these two species is unique within the Olacaceae (excluding Erythropalaceae) in being a climber (vs. shrubs or trees in Anacolosa sensu stricto). Climbing in the two African species is achieved by perennial hook-like structures formed by a combination of five separate traits each of which is unknown elsewhere in the Olacaceae. We formally delimit and describe this new genus, discussing its characteristics, but in the absence of molecular phylogenetic data, refrain from naming it.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2021

Lukea gen. nov. (Monodoreae-Annonaceae) with two new species of shrub from the forests of the Udzungwas, Tanzania & Kaya Ribe, Kenya.

A new genus, Lukea Gosline & Cheek (Annonaceae), is erected for two new species to science, Lukea quentinii Cheek & Gosline from Kaya Ribe, S.E. Kenya, and Lukea triciae Cheek & Gosline from the Udzungwa Mts, Tanzania. Lukea is characterised by a flattened circular bowl-shaped receptacle-calyx with a corolla of three petals that give the buds and flowers a unique appearance in African Annonaceae. Both species are extremely rare shrubs of small surviving areas of lowland evergreen forest under threat of habitat degradation and destruction and are provisionally assessed as Critically Endangered and Endangered respectively using the IUCN 2012 standard. Both species are illustrated and mapped. Material of the two species had formerly been considered to be possibly Uvariopsis Engl. & Diels, and the genus Lukea is placed in the Uvariopsis clade of the Monodoreae (consisting of the African genera Uvariodendron (Engl. & Diels) R.E.Fries, Uvariopsis, Mischogyne Exell, Dennettia Bak.f., and Monocyclanthus Keay). The clade is characterised by often conspicuous, finely reticulate quaternary nervation and incomplete or absent connective shields (in Annonaceae the connective shield is usually complete). Morphologically Lukea is distinct for its broad, turbinate, fleshy pedicel, a synapomorphy. It appears closest to the West African monotypic Monocyclanthus, sharing a trait unusual in the Annonaceae: the calyx in both genera forms a shallow bowl (calyx lobes are absent or vestigial), barely enclosing the base of the petals at anthesis, and persisting as a living, leathery disc at least until the fruit is mature. The placement of Lukea within the Uvariopsis clade is discussed.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2021

Uvariopsis ebo (Annonaceae) a new, Critically Endangered tree species from the Ebo Forest, Cameroon and a key to the Cameroonian species of Uvariopsis

A new species to science of evergreen forest tree, Uvariopsis ebo (Annonaceae) is described, illustrated, mapped, and compared morphologically with the other cauliflorous species of the genus. Restricted so far to a single site in evergreen lowland forest in the Ebo Forest, Yabassi, Littoral Region, Cameroon, this species is Critically Endangered using the IUCN 2012 standard, because the forest habitat of this species remains unprotected, and there exists threats of logging and conversion to plantations. This species adds to the growing list of threatened species resulting from anthropogenic pressure on Cameroon forests. Observations on the unusual corolla structure of the new species are made. A revised key to the 14 Cameroonian species of Uvariopsis is presented. Notes are given on other narrowly endemic and threatened species in the Ebo forest area, a highly threatened centre of diversity in Littoral Region, globally important for conservation.

plant biology↗