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Morphological and phylogenetic investigations for several cryptic ant-plants found in Callicarpa (Lamiaceae) from Borneo

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Abstract

A tropical small tree, Callicarpa saccata, is known to have a symbiotic relationship with ants. It has sac-like structures at the base of the leaves that are inhabited by ants. No other species has been determined to be a myrmecophyte among the ca. 140 species of this genus. However, our recent field investigation discovered that two other species on Borneo (C. barbata and C. teneriflora) have hollow stems, which seem to be inhabited by ants. We observed the morphological features of these species in relation to their usage by ants, and became convinced that they are mymecophytic species. The molecular phylogenetic analyses using ITS and chloroplast regions suggest that C. saccata and C. teneriflora are closely related, but the differences in the myrmecophytic features of these species should be noted.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Secretariat of Permission for Foreign Research, the Ministry of Research and Technology, Republic of Indonesia (RISTEK), who kindly gave permission for the field research in West Kalimantan, and the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) and the Betung Kerihun National Park office, for kindly allowing this study to take place in Betung Kerihun National Park, West Kalimantan. We also thank Dr. Marlina Ardiyani and Mr. Ujang Hapid of Herbarium Bogoriense (BO), Mustarrudin, Suherman, Jon, Anong, Mazid, and Eddy for helping to conduct the botanical surveys during the expedition. We are grateful to Dr. Shingo Hosoishi of Kyushu University for doing elaborate identification of the ant specimens. A part of this study was supported by the Mitsubishi Foundation, MEXT/JSPS (Grants-in-Aid for Creative Scientific Research; Scientific Research on Innovative Areas) to H. T.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, 2-39-1 Kurokami, Kumamoto, 860-8555, Japan

    Shota Nakashima & Akiko Soejima

  2. Graduate School of Science, The Univesity of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Emma Sarath, Kazune Ezaki & Hirokazu Tsukaya

  3. Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, 558-8585, Japan

    Hiroshi Okada

  4. Institute of Natural Environmental Sciences, Hyogo Prefectural University, Sanda, Hyogo, 669-1546, Japan

    Hiroshi Okada

  5. Herbarium Bogoriense, Research Center for Biology-LIPI, Jl. Juanda 18, PO Box 332, Bogor, 16122, Indonesia

    Dedy Darnaedi

  6. Bio-Next Project, Okazaki Institute for Integrative Bioscience, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Yamate Build. #3, 5-1, Higashiyama, Myodaiji, Okazaki, Aichi, 444-8787, Japan

    Hirokazu Tsukaya

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  1. Shota Nakashima
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  2. Emma Sarath
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Correspondence to Akiko Soejima.

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Nakashima, S., Sarath, E., Okada, H. et al. Morphological and phylogenetic investigations for several cryptic ant-plants found in Callicarpa (Lamiaceae) from Borneo. J Plant Res 129, 591–601 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-016-0820-5

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