Uma abordagem morfométrica sobre o complexo de espécies cephalocarpus Montanus

Abstract

The Cephalocarpus montanus complex encompasses species and subspecies with difficult delimitation and circumscription, which can hinder the identification of the real diversity of the group and, consequently, the assessment of its conservation status. In order to clarify the boundaries and facilitate the identification of entities, an assessment of morphological variations was conducted through a morphometric study using correlation analysis. Ten quantitative variables and 11 qualitative variables were chosen for principal component analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and Cluster analysis. This paper presents the results of the analysis with 217 specimens of the complex, compared to hypothetical specimens created from the original descriptions of taxonomic entities. The morphometric analysis was not able to fully separate the species and subspecies into groups, although there was interspecific clustering. Cephalocarpus montanus subsp. montanus demonstrated a high phenotypic plasticity for the chosen variables. We emphasize the need for an integrative approach, considering the variation among individuals and populations of the complex, for a better understanding of boundaries between entities and the evolutionary processes involved.