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Geometric morphometrics of leaves help distinguish species from the Bauhinia fusconervis complex (Fabaceae-Cercidoideae)

Daniele dos Santos de Amorim,E. Pessoa

Published 2025 in Acta Botânica Brasílica

ABSTRACT

Abstract Bauhinia, a pantropical genus of approximately 230 species with a taxonomy principally based on reproductive characters, contains several identified species complexes including Bauhinia fusconervis, a group with an almost exclusively Brazilian distribution. The present study sought to investigate species delimitation in this complex using geometric morphometrics of the leaves. A total of 765 leaf images were analyzed. Images were processed and eight landmarks were applied for PCA and CVA. The results showed that five groups can be defined, three of them corresponding to the species B. candelabriformis, B. curvula, and B. pulchella; the other two comprehend overlapping individuals of the remaining species. The main observed variations were in the degree of fusion of the leaflets and the angle of the leaflet apices. Analyses including only species from the overlapping groups were run with populations separated by geographical area. Although some areas separate in these analyses, there was also cases where one population showed more morphological variation than all the others. This can be an indication of a morphological continuum that corresponds to a single specific entity, a reflex of recent speciation in this group, or evolutionary convergence related to habitat.

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