Huberia campostriniae Bochorny & R. Goldenb. 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Bochorny, Thuane
name: Gonella, Paulo M.
name: Gonçalves, Lucas N.
name: Völtz, Rafael R.
name: Goldenberg, Renato
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Myrtales
Melastomataceae
Huberia
Huberia campostriniae

description: 1.Huberia campostriniaeBochorny & R. Goldenb. sp. nov.
Figs 1, 2, 3
Type.
BRAZIL – Rio de Janeiro • Guapimirim, Parque Nacional da Serra dos Órgãos, trilha para o Pico Cabeça de Peixe; 22°27’58”S, 43°00’26”W; 1260 m; 9 Feb. 2021; Völtz R. R. & Brotto M. L. 2346; holotype: UPCB; isotype: RB.
Diagnosis.
Huberia campostriniae differs from Huberia cordifolia (Cogn.) Bochorny & R. Goldenb. due to the hypanthium densely covered by sessile glands (vs stalked glands); sepals 2–2.8 × ca 0.5 mm (vs 4.5–7 × 1–1.5 mm); petals 7.5–9.5 × 6–6.5 mm (vs 13–17 × 8–10 mm); ovary apex with 8 lobes, these covered with long stalked glands (vs 4 lobes, glabrous); style ca 5 mm long (vs 11–15 mm).
Description.
Shrubs 0.4–0.7 m tall; branches, petioles, inflorescences, bracts, and bracteoles moderately covered with sessile glands 0.1–0.2 mm long. Branches terete, striate. Leaves opposite; petiole 0.7–2.5 cm long; blade 2.5–6.5 × 1.2–4 cm, membranaceous, ovate or broadly elliptic, apex cuspidate, base rounded, margin serrulate and eciliolate, adaxial and abaxial surfaces moderately covered with sessile glands 0.1–0.2 mm long, acrodromous veins 3, with an additional faint submarginal pair, basal, main veins impressed adaxially and raised abaxially, transverse veins and reticulation visible on both surfaces. Inflorescences thyrsoids or compound dichasia 2–4 cm long, terminal, with 10 flowers; bracts two, persistent, leafy, ca 25 × 18 mm, ovate or broadly elliptic, petiole ca 8.5 mm long; bracteoles two, persistent, ca 1 mm long, subulate. Flowers 6 - merous, pedicels 8–12 mm long. Hypanthium 3–5 × 3–3.5 mm, campanulate, greenish, densely covered with sessile glands ca 0.1 mm long; torus glabrous. Calyx tube 0.8–1 mm long, densely covered with sessile glands ca 0.1 mm long; sepals 2–2.8 × ca 0.5 mm, triangular-subulate, apex apiculate, margin eciliolate or ciliolate-glandular ca 0.5 mm long (the cilia sometimes caducous); external teeth absent. Petals 7.5–10 × 5–6.5 mm, left margin (in adaxial view) white, right margin (in adaxial view) white to pinkish, obovate and asymmetric, apex rounded, not apiculate, margin entire, both surfaces glabrous. Stamens 12, subisomorphic, glabrous; filaments 4–5.5 mm long (antesepalous) or 6.5–7 mm long (antepetalous), greenish; connective not prolonged below the thecae, dorsal appendages 2–2.5 mm long, yellow, linear-subulate; anthers 3–3.5 mm long in both cycles, yellow, oblong-linear, the thecae prolonged up to 0.2 mm below the insertion of the filament, with a single, apical (but ventrally inclined) pore. Ovary ca 3 mm long, 2 / 3 basally adhered to the hypanthium, 4 - locular, apex with 8 lobes, these covered with stalked glands 1.5 mm long; style ca 5 mm long, slightly curved or sigmoidal, glabrous. Capsules ca 8.5 × 5 mm, the carpels exceeding the hypanthium length by ca 1 mm; seeds ca 1 × 0.5 mm, elongate or oblong, raphe almost equalling the seed length, testa granulate.
Distribution and habitat.
Huberia campostriniae was found along the trail to the Cabeça de Peixe summit, in the Serra dos Órgãos mountains, which is part of the Serra do Mar mountain range located in the central portion of the state of Rio de Janeiro (Fig. 3 A, D). It is typically found on very steep slopes with rocky outcrops, sparse vegetation, and moist and shady environments. The collection site is located at about 1260 m elevation and is surrounded by Montane Atlantic Rainforest.
Phenology.
Collected with flowers in February, and fruits in December and February.
Etymology.
The epithet honours the botanist Dr Rafaela Campostrini Forzza, now at Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade. Dr Forzza coordinated the projects Flora and Funga of Brazil, Reflora, and Catalog of Plants of Conservation Units in Brazil.
Preliminary IUCN conservation assessment.
Data Deficient: DD. The species is known only from the type locality. Our two samples came from a single small population found inside the Parque Nacional da Serra dos Órgãos (Fig. 3 D), a fully protected area managed by the Brazilian federal government. Despite being in a legally protected area, the only known population of the species is very small and near a trail, which could make the species susceptible to the negative impact of extensive tourism (trampling, pollution, introduction of invasive species), as every year numerous people venture to the summit along the trail (ICMBio 2024). Based on the available data, the species has a AOO of 4 km 2 (the EOO polygon cannot be calculated due to the single record). The lack of information about population size and uncertainty about its entire distribution led us to a conservative approach, preliminarily assessing this species as Data Deficient.
Additional material studied (paratype).
BRAZIL – Rio de Janeiro • Parque Nacional da Serra dos Órgãos, trilha para o Pico Cabeça de Peixe; 22°27’58”S, 43°00’26”W; 1260 m; 2 Dec. 2021; Völtz R. R. & Brotto M. L. 2437; UPCB.
Notes.
Huberia campostriniae is morphologically similar to H. cordifolia since both have membranaceous leaves, thyrsoids 2–4 cm long, 6 - merous flowers, the hypanthium covered with sessile glands, glabrous torus, sepals with an apiculate apex, and petals with glabrous surfaces. Huberia cordifolia occurs at Pico do Frade de Macaé, in Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, which is about 65 km in a straight line from where H. campostriniae was collected.
Huberia campostriniae is also similar to H. ciliata, H. corymbosa (Cogn.) Bochorny & R. Goldenb., H. edmundoi (Brade) Bochorny & R. Goldenb., H. hirsuta Bochorny & R. Goldenb., H. lumiarensis, and H. mourae (Cogn.) Bochorny & R. Goldenb. For a comparative overview, see Table 1.
description: Published as part of Bochorny, Thuane, Gonella, Paulo M., Gonçalves, Lucas N., Völtz, Rafael R. & Goldenberg, Renato, 2025, Five new species of Huberia (Melastomataceae) from the eastern Brazilian mountains, pp. 23-42 in Plant Ecology and Evolution 158 (1) on pages 23-42, DOI: 10.5091/plecevo.134375