Mendoncia phytocrenoides (Gilg ex Lindau) Benoist

Breteler, F. J. & Wieringa, J. J., 2018, A synopsis of Mendoncia (Acanthaceae) in continental Africa including the description of two new species from western Central Africa and a new subspecies from West Africa, Blumea 63 (2), pp. 109-119 : 116

7. Mendoncia phytocrenoides (Gilg ex Lindau) Benoist — Map 7

Mendoncia phytocrenoides (Gilg ex Lindau) Benoist (1944) 143; Heine (1966) 72, p.p., see note under M. iodioides . — Afromendoncia phytocrenoides Gilg ex Lindau (1893) 112. — Monachochlamys phytocrenoides (Gilg ex Lindau) S. Moore (1929) 227. — Type: Mann 1839 (lecto K, designated by Magnaghi & Daniel 2017; iso K, P, S*, W*), probably nowadays Equatorial Guinea, ‘Gaboon, Muni River’, 1862.

Mendoncia letestui Benoist (1944) 133; Heine (1966) 74, under M. phytocrenoides var. iodioides . — Type: Le Testu 8250 (lecto P, designated by Magnaghi & Daniel 2017;iso BR, IFAN*,P,K*), Gabon, Lastoursville region, Moughouda, 14 Aug. 1930.

Distribution — Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo

(Kinshasa).

Conservation status — Our currently known distribution results in an EOO of 790 730 km 2 and an AOO (based on 2 km squares) of 68 km 2. We estimate the number of subpopulations to be about 12. Several of these subpopulations (partly) occur in currently protected areas, and the unprotected ones are located in different zones in different countries, facing different potential threats (logging, mining). We assess the number as locations as 11, and only a part of them to have a direct threat of habitat loss. We therefore assess this species as Least Concern (LC).

Note — The distribution of M. phytocrenoides is highly disjunct, because there is no collection known from the area between Lastoursville and Bélinga in Gabon on the one hand and Kiaselala in eastern Congo (Kinshasa) (A. Léonard 3905, BR, P) on the other hand. Analysis of the most eastern collection did not reveal any character by which it differs from the Gabon material. We did not have access to two other collections from this region that are cited by Magnaghi & Daniel (2017). More or less similar disjunct distributions are reported for Dichapetalum dewildei Breteler ( Breteler 1978), Protomegabaria meiocarpa J.Léonard ( Breteler 2012, 2014), Sorindeia winkleri Engl. ( Breteler 2003), and Stapfiella lucida Robyns ( Leal & Sosef 2011). The explanation of these disjunctions might be the very high precipitation in this part of eastern Congo, similar to that of Gabon, which was not known until recently satellite rainfall data became available ( Deblauwe et al. 2016).

Figures

Map 7 Distribution of Mendoncia phytocrenoides (Gilg ex Lindau) Benoist.