Taxonomia e conservação de Acanthaceae no Nordeste setentrional

Abstract

Acanthaceae comprises 190 genera and about 4,900 species, widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. In Brazil, 51 genera and 534 species distributed in all phytogeographic domains occur, with the highest number of species (244) recorded for the Atlantic Forest, followed by Amazonia (147), Cerrado (149), Caatinga (50), Pampa (23), and Pantanal (22). Acanthaceae are important plants in tropical and subtropical forests, where it occupy a wide variety of habitats and are permanent sources of floral resources for the local fauna. Taxonomic studies including Acanthaceae from Brazilian Northeast region are few, considering the territorial extension and the diverse diverse phytophysiognomies found in that region. The objectives of this thesis was to study the taxonomy and conservation of Acanthaceae in the Septentrional Northeast, providing data on geographic patterns, areas of richness and greatest sampling effort, data on the conservation status and occurrence of species in protected areas, and a key for identifying all species that occur in the study area. In addition, we present the description of a new species of Ruellia for Brazilian Northeastern region of Brazil; the taxonomic survey of Acanthaceae for Rio Grande do Norte State, with descriptions, comments on geographic distribution, maps, phenology and new occurrences of genera and species; a proposal for a new lectotypification for Beloperone fragilis Nees; the first record of Justicia sessilis Jacq. for Brazil; and the floristic survey of Acanthaceae in the Agreste region of Paraíba. These results expand the knowledge of the diversity of Acanthaceae in Northeastern Brazil, contributing to the increase of collections and deepening the taxonomy and geographic distribution of the family in the semiarid region.