Background:

Agave ellemeetiana (A. sect. Choritepalae) features soft and “spineless” leaves and occurs in two disjunct and ecologically differentiated populations classified as subspecies. An incidental look at the flowers of A. ellemeetiana ssp. subdentata unveiled that these did not match those of A. ellemeetiana s. s. nor those of sect. Choritepalae.

Questions:

Do these disjunct populations differ in flower and fruit morphology? Do they belong to the same section within Agave?

Hypotheses:

The floral morphology of populations of Agave ellemeetiana ssp. subdentata from western Oaxaca places this species in A. sect. Inermes, and the set of qualitative and quantitative differences is sufficient to recognize it as a distinct species.

Studied species:

Agave ellemeetiana, Agave pedunculifera.

Study site and dates:

Putla District, western Oaxaca, December 2011 and April 2014.

Methods:

We conducted an alpha-taxonomic study of the Agave ellemeetiana species complex, involving two fieldwork expeditions, review of literature, online images, and herbarium specimens.

Results:

Differences in flower, fruit and vegetative morphology and habitat support the segregation of the populations (from the Putla District, Oaxaca) from the Agave ellemeetiana complex as a new species, A. rosalesii. The presence of an evident corolla tube places the proposed taxon close to A. pedunculifera and within A. sect. Inermes.

Conclusions:

The populations from the Putla District are sufficiently distinct in their morphology and ecology to merit recognition as a new species, Agave rosalesii, placed in A. sect. Inermes.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in English     · English ( pdf )