Phytotaxa 186 (5): 279–286
www.mapress.com/phytotaxa/
Copyright © 2014 Magnolia Press
Article
PHYTOTAXA
ISSN 1179-3155 (print edition)
ISSN 1179-3163 (online edition)
Accepted by Andreas Fleischmann: 12 Nov. 2014; published: 4 Dec. 2014
http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.186.5.5
279
A new diploid butterwort species (Pinguicula, Lentibulariaceae) from Sardinia
GIANLUIGI BACCHETTA
1
, MARCELLO CANNAS
2
& LORENZO PERUZZI
3*
1
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente, Centro Conservazione Biodiversità, Università di Cagliari, viale S. Ignazio da
Laconi, 11-13, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
2
Corpo Forestale e di Vigilanza Ambientale, Regione Autonoma della Sardegna, via Biasi 7, 09131 Cagliari, Italy
3
Dipartimento di Biologia, Unità di Botanica, Università di Pisa, via Luca Ghini, 13, 56126 Pisa, Italy; e-mail: lorenzo.peruzzi@unipi.it
*
author for correspondence
Abstract
A new diploid species belonging to Pinguicula sect. Pinguicula is described from Sardinia, an island where no butterwort
was previously reported from. The taxonomic relationship of P. sehuensis sp. nov. with other species is briefly discussed.
Keywords: carnivorous plants, endemics, karyology, Italy, Mediterranean Basin, vascular flora
Introduction
Pinguicula Linnaeus (1753: 17) (butterworts) is the second most diverse genus of the carnivorous family
Lentibulariaceae, with about 100 currently accepted species (Rodondi et al. 2010). A number of them were only
recently recognized, especially in consequence of taxonomic studies in Central America (see literature cited in Cieslak
et al. 2005, Domínguez et al. 2014). Also in the Mediterranean area, 14 new taxa were described in the last 30 years
(Tammaro & Pace 1987, Romo et al. 1996, Zamora et al. 1996, Casper & Steiger 2001, Conti & Peruzzi 2006, Ansaldi
& Casper 2009, Yildirim et al. 2012, Peruzzi & Gestri 2013, Innangi & Izzo 2014).
The family Lentibulariaceae, order Lamiales, has recently been proved to be monophyletic (Jobson et al. 2003),
as the whole genus Pinguicula (Cieslak et al. 2005, Degtjareva et al. 2006, Kondo & Shimai 2006, Shimai & Kondo
2007, Shimai et al. 2007). The latter authors significantly contributed in explaining the phylogenetic relationships
within this genus, showing that many of the infrageneric taxa recognized by Casper (1966) are poly- or paraphyletic.
Recently, Degtjareva et al. (2004) provided useful new taxonomic information on seed morpho-anatomy, Rodondi et
al. (2010) studied pollen morphology in detail, while Peruzzi (2004) and Casper & Stimper (2009) summarized the
karyological knowledge of this genus.
At present, 13 species are listed for Italy (Conti & Peruzzi, 2006; Pascal et al. 2008; Ansaldi & Casper, 2009;
Compostella et al. 2010; Peruzzi & Gestri 2013; Innangi & Izzo 2014). Pinguicula alpina Linnaeus (1753: 17), P.
grandiflora Lamarck (1789: 22), P. leptoceras Reichenbach (1823: 69) and P. poldinii Steiger & Casper in Casper
& Steiger (2001: 28), occur in the Alpine portion of Italy (the latter species so far known as endemic). Pinguicula
reichenbachiana Schindler (1908: 13) occurs in central-Western Liguria; while P. christinae Peruzzi & Gestri (2013:
699) is endemic to Northern Apennine; P. apuana Casper & Ansaldi in Ansaldi & Casper (2009: 13) and P. mariae
Casper in Ansaldi & Casper (2009: 3), are endemic to the Apuan Alps (Tuscany); P. fiorii Tammaro & Pace (1987: 430)
and P. vallis-regiae Conti & Peruzzi (2006: 329), are both endemic to Abruzzo; P. lavalvae Innangi & Izzo (2014: 8;
online publication) is endemic to Campania, and P. hirtiflora Tenore (1811: VI), occurs only in Campania and Calabria
(Southern Italy). The latter two species are also the only ones overwintering as a rosette (tropical growth-type) in Italy
(Peruzzi et al. 2004). Besides them, the species with the widest distribution range in Italy is P. vulgaris Linnaeus (1753:
17), occurring in Alps throughout the peninsula up to central Italy (see Conti & Peruzzi 2006 for further information
on endemic subspecies at the Southern limit of Italian distribution). In this framework of knowledge, in 2012 we
discovered a peculiar Pinguicula population in Sardinia, a region where no butterwort was ever recorded before. This
plant is here described as a species new to science.