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| Victoria boliviana Magdalena & L. T. Sm., in Smith, Magdalena, Przelomska, ... et Monro, 2022. |
Reliably documenting plant diversity is necessary to protect and sustainably benefit from it. At the heart of this documentation lie species concepts and the practical methods used to delimit taxa. Here, we apply a total-evidence, iterative methodology to delimit and document species in the South American genus Victoria (Nymphaeaceae). The systematics of Victoria has thus far been poorly characterized due to difficulty in attributing species identities to biological collections. This research gap stems from an absence of type material and biological collections, also the confused diagnosis of V. cruziana. With the goal of improving systematic knowledge of the genus, we compiled information from historical records, horticulture and geography and assembled a morphological dataset using citizen science and specimens from herbaria and living collections. Finally, we generated genomic data from a subset of these specimens. Morphological and geographical observations suggest four putative species, three of which are supported by nuclear population genomic and plastid phylogenomic inferences. We propose these three confirmed entities as robust species, where two correspond to the currently recognized V. amazonica and V. cruziana, the third being new to science, which we describe, diagnose and name here as V. boliviana Magdalena and L. T. Sm. Importantly, we identify new morphological and molecular characters which serve to distinguish the species and underpin their delimitations. Our study demonstrates how combining different types of character data into a heuristic, total-evidence approach can enhance the reliability with which biological diversity of morphologically challenging groups can be identified, documented and further studied.
Keywords: Victoria, heuristic species concept, morphology, population genomics, Victorian era, Mamoré River, molecular diagnosis of species, divergence times
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| Victoria boliviana sp. nov. (A) habit, (B) abaxial leaf, (C) leaf rim profiles, (D) bud, whole and LS, (E) flower prickles, (F) first night flower, (G) second night flower, (H) carpellary appendages and tepal, staminode attachments; (I) ovule, whole and LS, (J) stamens, (K) seed. (All from material cultivated at RBG Kew). Illustration: Lucy T. Smith. |
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Victoria boliviana sp. nov. (A) bud whole, (B) bud L. S., (C) bud from above, (D) first night flower, (E) first night flower L. S., (F) second night flower, (G) second night flower L.S., (H) habit, and (I) seed. (A–G) (LTS), (I) (CM) cultivated RBG Kew, H (CM) Beni, Bolivia. |
Victoria boliviana Magdalena and L. T. Sm., sp. nov.
Type: Bolivia, Beni Department, Provincia Ballivían, subiendo el Río Yacuma desde Puerto Espíritu, laguna en conexíon al Río Yacuma, unos 20 m al N, 29 Mar. 1988, S. G. Beck 15173 (holotype: LPB; isotype: K (K000798309).
Vernacular names: Reina Victoria, Victoria regia.
Most similar to V. cruziana Orb., from which it can be distinguished by the lower rim of the floating leaf, convex apex of the flower bud, length of the upper part of the carpellary appendages exceeding that of the lower part and the larger seeds. The V. boliviana plastid genome differs from that of other Victoria species by a 14 bp insertion between plastid genes ndhC and trnV in the large single copy region (LSC), a 5 bp deletion between trnK and rps16, a 7 bp deletion adjacent to trnC in the LSC and a 42b p deletion in the CDS of gene ycf1, within the SSC. Finally, a 4 bp transversion unique to V. boliviana sp. nov. was found in the LSC.
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| Wild populations of (A) Victoria amazonica (Peru, Loreto), (B) Victoria boliviana sp. nov. (Bolivia, Beni) and (C) V. cruziana (Argentina, Chaco). (Photo Credits: (A) Laurel Allen, iNaturalist ID 821386. (B) Carlos Magdalena. (C) Fernanda Alarcón, iNaturalist ID. 19516477). |
Lucy T. Smith, Carlos Magdalena, Natalia A. S. Przelomska, Oscar A. Pérez-Escobar, Darío G. Melgar-Gómez, Stephan Beck, Raquel Negrão, Sahr Mian, Ilia J. Leitch, Steven Dodsworth, Olivier Maurin, Gaston Ribero-Guardia, César D. Salazar, Gloria Gutierrez-Sibauty, Alexandre Antonelli and Alexandre K. Monro. 2022. Revised Species Delimitation in the Giant Water Lily Genus Victoria (Nymphaeaceae) Confirms A New Species and Has Implications for Its Conservation. Frontiers in Plant Science. 13:883151. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.883151
