Major changes to Leptospermeae
Last year, a new paper was published with significant changes for the tribe Leptospermeae at the generic level: Revised taxonomy of the tribe Leptospermeae (Myrtaceae) based on morphological and DNA data by Peter Wilson and Margaret Heslewood. Paper is available here: https://tinyurl.com/3nmpzw95
Pre-paper, and current iNat before the changes I'm about to implement, Leptospermum was a large, fairly broadly circumscribed genus. Post-paper, it is now somewhat split up, with the resurrection of one genus and the erection of three new genera, into which 40+ Leptospermum species have been transferred. All of these changes have now been accepted by POWO, as well as most of Australia's state herbaria (APC is a bit slow to uptake the new names, but it will happen soon), so I am now implementing all of these changes on iNat. The changes are as summarised below, with the current Leptospermum species on iNat indicated on left, and the new combination on right:
Genus resurrected: Leptospermopsis, 8 species
Leptospermum erubescens --> Leptospermopsis erubescens
Leptospermum fastigiatum --> Leptospermopsis fastigiata
Leptospermum incanum --> Leptospermopsis incana
Leptospermum maxwellii --> Leptospermopsis maxwellii
Leptospermum nitens --> Leptospermopsis nitens
Leptospermum oligandrum --> Leptospermopsis oligandra
Leptospermum roei and Leptospermum inelegans --> Leptospermopsis roei
Leptospermum sericeum --> Leptospermopsis sericea
New genus: Aggreflorum, 10 species
Leptospermum anfractum --> Aggreflorum anfractum
Leptospermum benwellii --> Aggreflorum benwellii
Leptospermum brachyandrum --> Aggreflorum brachyandrum
Leptospermum whitei --> Aggreflorum ellipticum
Leptospermum madidum --> Aggreflorum longifolium (with subsp. longifolium and sativum)
Leptospermum luehmannii --> Aggreflorum luehmannii
Leptospermum pallidum --> Aggreflorum pallidum
Leptospermum parviflorum [not in iNat] --> Aggreflorum parviflorum
Leptospermum purpurascens --> Aggreflorum purpurascens
Leptospermum speciosum --> Aggreflorum speciosum
New genus: Apectospermum, 4 species
Leptospermum exsertum --> Apectospermum exsertum
Leptospermum macgillivrayi --> Apectospermum macgillivrayi
Leptospermum spinescens --> Apectospermum spinescens
Leptospermum subtenue --> Apectospermum subtenue
New genus: Gaudium, 22 species
Leptospermum blakelyi --> Gaudium blakelyi
Leptospermum brevipes --> Gaudium brevipes
Leptospermum confertum --> Gaudium confertum
Leptospermum coriaceum --> Gaudium coriaceum
Leptospermum deanei --> Gaudium deanei
Leptospermum divaricatum --> Gaudium divaricatum
Leptospermum glaucescens --> Gaudium glaucescens
Leptospermum jingera --> Gaudium jingera
Leptospermum laevigatum --> Gaudium laevigatum
Leptospermum lamellatum --> Gaudium lamellatum
Leptospermum microcarpum --> Gaudium microcarpum
Leptospermum multicaule --> Gaudium multicaule
Leptospermum myrsinoides --> Gaudium myrsinoides
Leptospermum namadgiense --> Gaudium namadgiense
Leptospermum neglectum --> Gaudium neglectum
Leptospermum parvifolium --> Gaudium parvifolium
Leptospermum polyanthum --> Gaudium polyanthum
Leptospermum semibaccatum --> Gaudium semibaccatum
Leptospermum sericatum --> Gaudium sericatum
Leptospermum subglabratum --> Gaudium subglabratum
Leptospermum trinervium --> Gaudium trinervium
Leptospermum venustum --> Gaudium venustum
I have already added all 45 of these new taxa to iNat, and will do one-to-one swaps for each. Some important comments:
- Although most Leptospermum sensu latu are endemic to Australia, there are a few species native to other countries (New Zealand and a number of countries spanning southeast Asia from Myanmar down to PNG). Almost all of these species are retained in Leptospermum. The only one transferred to a new genus is parviflorum, which is now in Aggreflorum; it is distributed across both northern Australia and into New Guinea.
-
There are a small handful of Australian species that are now widely naturalised in a number of countries/regions (South Africa, NZ, Hawaii, California, Madeira, Azores, St Helena, etc). The two major cases here are Leptospermum scoparium and laevigatum.
scoparium is retained in Leptospermum, but laevigatum is now in Gaudium. -
Perhaps the most important comment here for people to note. There are six regions where, under the new taxonomy, at least two of the now five genera co-occur, including both native and non-native taxa. These regions are:
Australia
New Zealand
South Africa
Hawaii
Kenya
California
For all six, both Leptospermum and Gaudium are expected to occur; for Australia this is all native species, NZ a mix of native and non-native, and the others due to the presence of both Leptospermum scoparium and Gaudium laevigatum as naturalised species
For these six places, any observation currently IDed only as genus Leptospermum will be rolled back to tribe Leptospermeae, as per this taxon swap I have drafted: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxon_changes/142569. These observations will then have to be revisited to see whether they need to be IDed as Leptospermum (scoparium) or Gaudium (laevigatum) [or another, newly naturalised species, or something cultivated that hasn't been marked as such]. For regions where only one genus is expected to occur, eg the Azores, Madeira, UK, any observations currently IDed to genus Leptospermum will not be changed.
Here is the generic key from the paper:
Tagging top IDers and observers of Leptospermum from each region to solicit any feedback. If no issues with the above, I will implement these changes on Monday (Sydney time).
@kaipatiki_naturewatch @pjd1 @john_barkla @christopherstephens @jennysaito @lloyd_esler @david_lyttle @mark_smale @majo00 @murray_dawson @iancastle @bean_ar @zaf2103 @m_chasse @kevinfaccenda @daverichardson @tonyrebelo @jeremygilmore @sandraf @sedgesrock @daverichardson @rkct @geoffnichols @dewidine @j_orfao @teresa_jardim @miwi2020 @vitorjcj @davidsando @reiner
@gregtasney @cobaltducks @nicklambert @flipperg @saltmarshsteve @kjellknable @insiderelic @margaretjb @aavankampen @scottwgavins @alan_dandie @mftasp @jggbrown @michaelcincotta @bushbandit @quinkin @jackiemiles @beth393 @margl
please feel free to tag anyone I've missed or that you think would be interested