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Issue: Vol. 736 No. 3: 31 Dec. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-12-31
DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.736.3.2
Page range: 210-240
Abstract views: 54
PDF downloaded: 2

Successful adaptive radiation of the genus Lotus L. (Fabaceae, Loteae, section Pedrosia) in the western Canary Islands, Spain, with new taxa from Tenerife and El Hierro

Gymnasiumstr. 24, 70794 Filderstadt, Germany
Biogeography Conservation Taxonomy Lotus brezalis sp. nov. Lotus campylocladus hierrensis subsp. nov. Lotus dunkelii sp. nov. Lotus frailensis sp. nov. Lotus pseudodumetorum sp. nov. Lotus reyes-betancorti sp. nov. Eudicots

Abstract

In terms of taxonomy and morphology, the genus Lotus L. is one of the most intruiguing clades in the Atlantic islands of Macaronesia. Specifically, the members of section Pedrosia have undergone a remarkable radiation in the Canary Islands, colonizing virtually all habitats and elevations except for the alpine zone on the highest mountain peaks. The current taxonomical concept includes five lineages that incorporate the 11 or 12 endemic species within the section, five of which occur on Tenerife. However, the number of taxa and their affilitation to islands are somewhat controversial, and long-term field observations presented in this study conflict with some conceptual results. Recent phylogenetic approaches to the Canarian lineages have shed new, and partly confusing, light on molecular and biogeographic aspects of Pedrosia, pointing to the existence of hitherto taxonomically undescribed populations in the western Canary Islands. To provide a robust framework for species delimitation, this study examines geographic variation of Pedrosia members, using live material and exsiccates housed in the botanical collections of the Universidade de La Laguna and the Botanical Garden Orotava, Puerto de la Cruz, and in private herbaria. As a result, five species from Tenerife, L. brezalis sp. nov., L. dunkelii sp. nov., L. frailensis sp. nov., L. pseudodumetorum sp. nov. and L. reyes-betancorti sp. nov., and one subspecies from El Hierro, L. campylocladus hierrensis subsp. nov., can now be described as being new to science. Their main discriminating characteristics refer to indumentum of stems and leaves, number of flowers per umbel, shape and length ratio of leaflets, rachis length ands fruit morphology. A key is included for all taxa from the three islands under special focus, Tenerife, El Hierro and La Palma. Present distributional and chorological data, and population trends reveal that four species are in danger of extinction, and that two taxa are endangered, which can be attributed to a variety of risk factors, such as land-use by agriculture, roadside trimming, goat-grazing and overgrowth by dominant species. Also, the status and distribution of some other critical taxa are reevaluated, yielding that L. tenellus is restricted to Tenerife, and L. callis-viridis Bramwell & D.H.Davis and L. leptophyllus (Lowe) K.Larsen are endemic to Gran Canaria. Moreover, the taxon L. hillebrandii Christ, found only on La Palma, should be best included as a subspecies in L. campylocladus Webb & Berthel..

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How to Cite

Weller, A.-A. (2025) Successful adaptive radiation of the genus Lotus L. (Fabaceae, Loteae, section Pedrosia) in the western Canary Islands, Spain, with new taxa from Tenerife and El Hierro. Phytotaxa 736 (3): 210–240. https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.736.3.2