The rediscovery of the Great Winterberg endemic Lotononis harveyi B.-E.van Wyk after 147 years, and notes on the poorly known Amathole endemic Macowania revoluta Oliv. (southern Great Escarpment, South Africa)

Vincent Ralph Clark; Joanne Bentley; Anthony P Dold; Vathiswa Zikishe; Nigel P Barker

doi:10.3897/phytokeys.62.8348

The rediscovery of the Great Winterberg endemic Lotononis harveyi B.-E.van Wyk after 147 years, and notes on the poorly known Amathole endemic Macowania revoluta Oliv. (southern Great Escarpment, South Africa)

PhytoKeys. 2016 Apr 15:(62):113-24. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.62.8348. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Vincent Ralph Clark¹, Joanne Bentley², Anthony P Dold³, Vathiswa Zikishe⁴, Nigel P Barker⁵

Affiliations

¹ Great Escarpment Biodiversity Programme, Department of Botany, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa.
² Department of Molecular & Cell Biology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7700, South Africa.
³ Selmar Schonland Herbarium, Department of Botany, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa.
⁴ South African National Biodiversity Institute, Threatened Plants Programme, c/o Department of Botany, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa.
⁵ Great Escarpment Biodiversity Programme, School of Plant & Crops Sciences, University of Pretoria, Hatfield, 0028, South Africa.

Abstract

South Africa's 800 km-long southern Great Escarpment hosts numerous endemic plant species only known from their type specimens or from very few records. This is a legacy of a 100-150 year lag between the pioneer work of 19(th) century botanists and repeat fieldwork in the 21(st) century. As a result, population and ecological data are lacking for many local endemic species. Here we report on the rediscovery of Lotononis harveyi B.-E.van Wyk 147 years after its original description, and provide the first detailed ecological notes on the poorly known shrub Macowania revoluta Oliv. Both species are locally endemic to the Great Winterberg-Amatholes (Eastern Cape Province). With only six known individuals, Lotononis harveyi is recommended the conservation status of Critically Endangered, with fire (and potentially grazing) being the main population constraints. Macowania revoluta is locally abundant, and it is surprising that it has been so poorly collected in recent decades. It occupies an important local niche as a keystone montane wetland species, and its narrow distribution range - combined with pressure from woody alien invasive species - suggests that its conservation status should be Rare. The research further highlights the need for continued biodiversity field research along South Africa's poorly explored Great Escarpment.

Keywords: Amatholes; Eastern Cape; Great Escarpment; Great Winterberg; Lotononis harveyi; Macowania revoluta; Red Data status; South Africa; endemic; fieldwork; rediscovery.