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Diversity and distribution of Cactaceae in Ceará state, northeastern Brazil

2011; Volume: 29; Issue: 29 Linguagem: Inglês

10.25223/brad.n29.2011.a3

0265-086X

Marcelo Oliveira Teles de Menezes, Nigel P. Taylor, Marlon C. Machado, P.J.A. Coelho, Diva Correia,

Plant and animal studies

Despite having a high diversity of cacti, the knowledge of the family in the northeastern region of Brazil still suffers from field collection gaps. This is the case for the state of Ceará — one of the lesser known areas for Cactaceae in Brazil. We made a survey of literature and herbarium holdings for the family in Ceará. Field studies have reduced the number of gaps in records for Cactaceae in the state. We gathered 252 findspot records, including nine new records of taxa for the state: Arrojadoa rhodantha, Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis, Discocactus zehntneri, Melocactus oreas, Pereskia aculeata, Pilosocereus catingicola subsp. salvadorensis, Tacinga palmadora, Tacinga ×quipa and Tacinga subcylindrica (stat. nov.; syn. T. inamoena subsp. subcylindrica). We also collected taxa that had not been previously documented by herbarium vouchers: Discocactus bahiensis, Harrisia adscendens and Pilosocereus flavipulvinatus. Ceará has 24 native taxa, one of which is endemic to the state: Pilosocereus chrysostele subsp. cearensis P.J. Braun & Esteves, whilst P. piauhyensis can be removed from the list for the state. Additional field research is needed to look for new records, to further fill record gaps, to understand biogeographic patterns of the family and to better determine the conservation status of each taxon.