Notícias
Daisy family gains a new species from the Atlantic Forest
A new species discovered in the Atlantic Forest enriches the Asteraceae plant family, the same family as the popular daisies. It is Lepidaploa bracteospinoflava D.Marq. & A.M.Teles, found by researchers in the high altitude fields of Desengano State Park, in the north of the state of Rio de Janeiro, located in the mountainous region of the municipalities of Campos de Goytacazes, Santa Maria Madalena, and São Fidélis. This is the only place where the species has been recorded so far, which makes it highly vulnerable to habitat loss and climate change, according to the authors who described it.
The plant was collected during one of the expeditions of the Procura-se Campaign carried out in August 2016 by the National Center for Flora Conservation of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden (CNCFlora/JBRJ). The discovery that it was a new species occurred during the process of preparing the List of Plant Species of Desengano State Park, coordinated by CNCFlora, for the Catalog of Plants of Conservation Units in Brazil.
The article was published in the Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences 97 (3), 2025, and is signed by Danilo Marques, Aristônio M. Teles, Marcelo Monge, and Nádia Roque. The authors advocate for more field expeditions in Desengano State Park and surrounding areas to locate additional populations. “This discovery highlights the importance of ongoing botanical exploration and conservation efforts in biodiversity hotspots in Brazil,” they conclude.