Biodiversity Data Journal :
Taxonomic Paper
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Corresponding author:
Academic editor: Quentin Groom
Received: 15 Aug 2016 | Accepted: 15 Nov 2016 | Published: 18 Nov 2016
© 2016 Paul Henri Bourobou Bourobou, Raoul Niangadouma, Yves Issembe, Thomas Couvreur
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Bourobou Bourobou P, Niangadouma R, Issembe Y, Couvreur T (2016) Two new records of palm species for Gabon: Sclerosperma profizianum Valk. & Sunder. and Eremospatha quiquecostulata Becc. Biodiversity Data Journal 4: e10187. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e10187
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Gabon is an important center of biodiversity in Central Africa. The country contains to date 27 species of palms. However, palms are generally poorly collected as these massive plants are hard to press and curate. Thus, our understanding remains incomplete, especially in Central Africa.
We report three new records of two palm species for Gabon: Sclerosperma profizianum Valk. & Sunder. and Eremospatha quiquecostulata Becc.. The former species was collected in southeast Gabon, near Ndindi, while the later was collected in the Massif du Chaillu and Monts de Cristal National Park (Crystal Mountains National Park). The total number of palm species for Gabon is now 29, making it an important centre of palm diversity in Central Africa.
Arecaceae, rattan, flora, Gabon, new records
Although only 270.000 km² in size, the Central African country of Gabon is an important center of botanical biodiversity for the continent. Indeed, the check-list of vascular plant species published by
Palms are not very diverse in Africa with just 65 species recorded to date, in stark contrast to South America (800 species) and South East Asia (1200 species) (
Here, we record two new palm species for Gabon and provide updated distribution maps for both species as well as a key to the species of Eremospatha of Gabon.
Two field trips were undertaken. The first in February 2015 to the area around Ndindi (region Nyanga) commissioned by the petrol company Maurel and Prom for environmental impact studies. The second in June 2016 to the Massif du Chaillu (area around the town of Koulamotou, Ogooué-Lolo) and Crystal Mountains National Park, Mbé Sector (around Kinguélé and Tchimabélé, Estuaire & Woleu-Ntem regions). This latter trip was undertaken as part of the ARFODYN and RAPHIA projects.
Traditional herbarium collection methods for palms were employed (
Identification of specimens was done at the Herbier National du Gabon and using literature (
Arecaceae
Eremospatha quiquecostulata Becc. Webbia iii. 279. 1910 (
Eremospatha quiquecostulata. A) Detail of collection Couvreur 1079; B) Detail of inequidistant leaflets, characteristic of the species; C) View of the leaf and the flagellum; D) Detail of the leaf base showing the knee; E) Detail of the grouping of the leaflets in 2-3. Photos TLP Couvreur.
Documented occurrences: disjunct distribution between Ghana, Angola, the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. (
Key to the species of Eremospatha in Gabon Adapted from |
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1 | Leaflets unequally distributed, grouped by 2 or 3 | E. quiquecostulata |
– | Leaflets regularly distributed, not grouped by 2 or 3 | 2 |
2 | Knee (swelling) clearly present on the stem under the petiole | 3 |
– | Knee absent on the stem under the petiole | 6 |
3 | Leaflets rhomboid or trapezoid | E. wendlandiana |
– | Leaflets not rhomboid or trapezoid | 4 |
4 | Leaflets less than 20 per side, cirrus spiny | 5 |
– | Leaflets more than 20 per side, cirrus non spiny | E. laurentii |
5 | Leaflets obovate-elliptic, inflorescence glabrous | E. hookeri |
– | Leaflets obovate to suborbicular; inflorescence profusely papillose to give brown velvety appearance | E. cabrae |
6 | Leaflet apex narrowly to broadly praemorse | 7 |
– | Leaflet apex entire, terminating in a conspicuous apiculum | E. cuspidata |
7 | Cirrus spiny | E. haullevilleana |
– | Cirrus non spiny | E. macrocarpa |
With the discovery of S. profizianum and E. quiquecostulata, Gabon is now home to 29 species of palms (nearly half the total number for continental Africa (
Eremospatha is one of the four rattan genera found in Africa (
The genus Sclerosperma, with three species, was recently revised by
We are grateful to Maurel & Prom Gabon for allowing PHBB and YI to prospect in Ndindi. We thank Miss. Kassa Bello and Mr. Charles Diyombi for logistical assistance. We thank the conservateur of the Parc National de Mayumba, Mr. Eric Ogowet, and his team for help and assistance in the field at Ndindi and the National Park of Mayumba at Panga. Field work in the Massif du Chaillu and Monts de Cristal was supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche in France (grant number ANR-15-CE02-0002-01 to TLPC). TLPC thanks the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique (CENAREST) and the Agence National des Parcs Nationaux (ANPN) in Gabon for delivering the necessary research permits (permits AR0020/16; AR0036/15 (CENAREST) and AE16014 (ANPN)) to TLPC. Finally, we are grateful to Jan Wieringa, Ross Bayton, Bill Baker, Gianniantonio Domina, Quentin Groom and Thomas Horn for comments and imporvements to a previous version of this manuscript.