Hybanthopsis is a genus of flowering plants in the violet family Violaceae, with a single accepted species (Hybanthopsis bahiensis), found in north-east Brazil.

Hybanthopsis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Violaceae
Subfamily: Violoideae
Tribe: Violeae
Genus: Hybanthopsis
Paula-Souza[2][3][4]
Species:
H. bahiensis
Binomial name
Hybanthopsis bahiensis
Paula-Souza[1]

Description edit

Twining herbaceous Lianas with ovate-lanceolate leaves. The solitary flowers, with a violet corolla, are strongly zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetrical) with the very large bottom petal differentiated into a claw and blade and are saccate (pouch like) at the base. On the five stamens, the filaments are weakly connate (fused) with the two lowest anthers weakly calcarate (spurred) and possessing a large dorsal connective appendage that is entire and oblongovate. In the gynoecium, the style is filiform-rostellate (threadlike and beaked). The fruit is a thin walled elastic follicle dehiscing by a single longitudinal suture. There are several seeds per carpel, that are obovoid with a pair of basal-lateral expansions.[5][6][7][8][9]

Taxonomy edit

The genus Hybanthopsis was first described by Paula-Souza in 2003, with a single species, Hybanthopsis bahiensis which thus is considered the type species.[5] Therefore, the genus bears the name, Paula-Souza, as the botanical authority.[1] The genus resembled the previously described Hybanthus in floral structure, but with important distinctions in terms of seed and fruit morphology, which are unique among neotropical Violaceae. Only one species of Hybanthus is a twining plant, and the floral structure is quite different to two of the other lianescent genera, Anchietea and Calyptrion but closer to that of Agatea, while the seeds more closely resemble Anchietea.[5]

Hybanthopsis is one of four lianescent genera in Violaceae, together with Calyptrion Ging., Agatea A.Gray and Anchietea Paula-Souza.[5] Historically, these genera were distributed among separate subtribes, with Anchietea within subtribe Violinae with Calyptrion and Hybanthopsis and Agatea in subtribe Hybanthinae.[6][10] Molecular phylogenetic studies have now grouped these four genera together into a single lianescent clade, one of four within the family Violaceae.[8]

Etymology edit

The genus Hybanthopsis is named after the genus Hybanthus from which it is differentiated, the suffix -opsis indicating similarity in Greek (Ancient Greek: ὄψις). The specific epithet bahiensis indicates its discovery in Bahia.[5][11]

Species edit

Hybanthopsis is a monotypic genus, with a single species:[12]

  • Hybanthopsis bahiensis Paula-Souza

Distribution and habitat edit

Arid deciduous forests (caatingas) of central and east Bahia, North-east Brazil, particularly disturbed areas such as forest borders and the roadside.[5][3][13]

References edit

Bibliography edit

Books and theses
  • Ballard, Harvey E; Paula-Souza, Juliana de; Wahlert, Gregory A (2013). "Violaceae". In Kubitzki, Klaus (ed.). Flowering Plants. 11 Eudicots: Malpighiales. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 303–322. ISBN 978-3-642-39417-1.(Also preview at Springer)
  • Byng, James W. (2014). "Violaceae". The Flowering Plants Handbook: A practical guide to families and genera of the world. Plant Gateway Ltd. pp. 238–239. ISBN 978-0-9929993-1-5.
  • Christenhusz, Maarten J. M.; Fay, Michael F.; Chase, Mark W. (2017). "Violaceae". Plants of the World: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Vascular Plants. University of Chicago Press. pp. 324–325. ISBN 978-0-226-52292-0.
  • Paula-Souza, Juliana de; Pirani, José Rubens (2014). "A biogeographical overview of the "lianescent clade" of Violaceae in the Neotropical region". In Greer, Francis Eliott (ed.). Dry Forests: Ecology, Species Diversity and Sustainable Management. Environmental Science, Engineering and Technology. Nova Science Publishers. pp. 1–28. ISBN 978-1-63321-291-6.
  • Souza, Juliana de Paula (2009). "Hybanthopsis". Estudos filogenéticos em Violaceae com ênfase na tribo Violeae e revisão taxonômica dos gêneros Lianescentes de Violaceae na região [Neotropical Phylogenetic studies on tribe Violeae and taxonomic revision of the Neotropical Lianescent genera of Violaceae] (PhD thesis) (in Brazilian Portuguese). Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo. pp. 175–182.
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