A new species of Pradosia (Sapotaceae) from Central Amazonia MÁRIO HENRIQUE TERRA-ARAUJO 1 ,APARECIDA DONISETE DE F ARIA 2 , AND ALBERTO VICENTINI 1 1 Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Av. André Araujo 2936, Coordenação de Pesquisas em Botânica, 69060-000, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil; e-mail: araujo.mht@gmail.com 2 Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), Av. Colombo 5.790, Jd. Universitário, 87020-900, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil; email: cidadefaria@uol.com.br Abstract. Pradosia lahoziana is here described as new. It is known from four col- lections from wet lowland and non-flooded terra firme forests near Manaus in Central Amazonia. Illustrations are provided together with a comparison of the morphological differences with similar species. Key Words: Amazonia, terra firme forest, Sapotaceae, Pradosia, taxonomy. Pradosia consists of 23 species and belongs to the Sapotaceae subfamily Chrysophylloideae (Swenson & Anderberg, 2005; Swenson et al., 2008). The genus is distributed throughout Central and South America and has the highest number of narrowly endemic species (seven) of any genus of Sapotaceae in the New World, reaching its greatest richness in Colombia, Ecuador, northern Peru, Guyana, and northern Brazil (Pennington, 1990). In Central Amazo- nia near Manaus, five species have been recorded (Pennington, 1990). Species of Pra- dosia are shrubs or trees that grow mainly in lowland and non-flooded forests on sandy soils (i.e., campina and campinara forest). Variable characters within the genus include flower placement, size of the flower, the place of insertion of the stamens on the corolla tube as well as size and surface of the fruits, which range from smooth to rough and glabrous to pubescent. A single morphological character, the drupaceous fruit, appears to be a synapo- morphy of Pradosia (Swenson & Anderberg, 2005), and is not known from other genera of Sapotaceae. Here we describe a new species of Pradosia based on collections from the Manaus region. Pradosia lahoziana Terra-Araujo, sp. nov. Type: Brazil. Amazonas: Manaus, Estrada do Aleixo, grounds of Companhia das Plantações, forest on terra firme [03°05'S, 59°55'W, 50–94 m], 30 Aug 1973 (fl), G. T. Prance 18763 (holotype: INPA; isotypes: MG, MO, NY). (Fig. 1) Species nova stipellis in medio petioli affixis proxime ad Pradosia grisebachii (Pierre) T. D. Penn. et P. atroviolacea Ducke accedit, tamen ab ea differt floribus longis in fasciculis in trunco o dispositis. Trees up to 12 m tall, shoots puberulent, lenticels present. Leaves clustered at the shoot apex, subverticillate, obovate or elliptic, chartaceous, 9–20×3–7 cm, apex symmetric, acuminate, base symmetric, cuneate, adaxial surface glabrous, abaxial surface puberulous (visible with a hand- lens); venation eucamptodromous, midrib impressed above, secondary veins 13–18 pairs, intersecondaries absent, tertiaries numerous, oblique or horizontal, marginal vein present and the margin, slightly revolute; petiole 1.6–2.6 cm long, canal- iculate, puberulous, stipels present, lanceo- late, attached on the middle of the petiole, ca.1–2 mm long, paired. Flowers in fas- cicles on the trunk (cauliflorous), pedicel 7–9 mm long, puberulous; sepals 3.9– 5 mm long, ovate, with a rounded apex, appressed puberulous outside with glabrous margin, glabrous inside; corolla 6.4 – Brittonia, 64(2), 2012, pp. 139–142 ISSUED: 1 June 2012 © 2011, by The New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY 10458-5126 U.S.A.