Derrick

Thanks Frank. Yes, it has been hard work especially in recent years due to its large size. I have become too old - especially brain wise (ever diminishing recall) to keep updating it. Indeed, It would be nice to see much younger persons taking over future publication and changing it as THEY and their audience wish. It certainly can be much abbreviated, especially if users provide feed back as to what they found most useful and interesting. It was written partly to encourage more persons to explore native habitats but Covid was no help in that regard. However, there have been hints that scientific interest has been aroused in some ant-plant regions possibly leading to scientific breakthroughs. Also, interest has certainly spread among lay members.

I suspect these additions to Lecanopteris will prove to be very unpopular if only in non academic circles. Therefore both in my Facebook group's pages and in the ant-plant fern section of my e/book database, I have primarily used the earlier study that created two new and one resurrected genera to accommodate these transfers. I also added details deemed pertinent to ant-plant enthusiasts. I suggest that the future evolution of tropical myrmecophyte Lecanopteris species may be vastly different to species such as those for example endemic to the temperate climate of the New Zealand islands with their very depauperate native ant fauna. Of course humans and climate change will probably have major impacts. Our mass movements of species around our planet is already homogenizing our planet. Hopefully these changes will be published in a 2022 edition of my data base. Furthermore, I have already vastly improved some sections but here it is summer so I am making the most of it. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27603-y

The essential answer to the original question has already been covered under Hoya imbricata in my E book database. However, I have added a little more detail that hopefully will appear in my 2022 edition. I am soon to have heart surgery so ?????

This is what IPNI (International plant name index) records for H. imbricata. https://www.ipni.org/?f=f_specific&q=genus%3AHoya%2Cspecies%3Aimbricata Tropicos page. https://tropicos.org/name/2601517 Thus, there is probably no scientifically accepted list of possible varieties of this fairly widespread variable species. Indeed, it seems that the modern botanical trend is to mostly avoid varieties. Of course many commercial sources will try to name what they sell, often with little to no scientific or even useful to the buyer accuracy. So it is very much a case of buyer beware. Hobbyists need commonly accepted labels for valued growth forms. That is a name that means the same to as wide an audience as possible. An ever growing (pun intended) problem in our globalist world. It is possible that widely accepted labels are used in one or more specialist Hoya groups. I am not a Hoya specialist, so I cannot add more. One way that new plants lacking an official name can be distributed is by adding the original collection location in "double quotes" preferably also in lower case to avoid confusion with registered cultivars. Correct grammar can surely be overlooked here. Thus as Hoya sp? "bada valley, central highlands, sulawesi". A registered cultivar however, would be shown as Hoya imbricata 'Whatever'

All chapters are now available from one link. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gnxb5l5t440rpr2/AACsAKqANEqAyznBh_jJd7mEa?dl=0 I am still not sure if this is downloadable due to lack of feedback. Also, I find Dropbox is NOT user friendly.

Ecological Research. Angelina Rowell, James Cook University, Cairns. Studied the relationships between Myrmecodia beccarii and Philidris ants in North Queensland mangroves. She reported (pers. comm.) that resident ants actually castrate their home plants by cutting up its flowers and transporting resultant pieces to their nests within tubers. Angelina found more buds and flowers were produced on ant-colonised, thus well-fed plants, so more fruit should develop on them. Yet, there were more fruits on uncolonised specimens, even though their bud and flower numbers were nutritionally constrained through a lack of ant feeding. Therefore, ants must be removing flowers before pollination, resulting inevitably in lower fruit/seed numbers. Furthermore, Angelina found that ants only removed flowers from their host plant, not from nearby uncolonised plants. Angelina’s Anova statistical analysis, showed that there was no significant difference between the fruit number on colonised versus uncolonised plants (i. e. fruit production is equal). Therefore, ants are not increasing home plant reproductive output. To belabor a point, trophic benefits that the plants are getting from their ants is not transferred to greater seed production because of flower castration. There are greater numbers of leaves on colonised plants, which in theory translates to a greater growth rate in the plant tuber and bigger domatia. But this project did not have enough time allocated to measure increase in plant growth. In summary, more buds, flowers and leaves on colonised plants does not result in more fruit and seed production. Angelina also noted on another thread. "We are looking at the spined form that occurs in the Cairns area. It seems that the majority of the flowers that are left on the plants by the ants develop into fruit. Not 100% sure if it is self pollinating - yet .....The ant interactions with this species is very interesting." I have tried to find more information on line but have not been successful. Attn Dr Guillaume Chomicki. This surely is important to the field of mutualisms.? It is very probable that resident ants are deliberately improving the growth rates of home tubers. Photos Angelina Rowell.

It is sad that too many members of ant-plant circles seem focused primarily on the acquisition of plants with little regard for an acquisition of knowledge. Certainly, unless I duplicate information here, that I have already disseminated on my Facebook group. It DOES NOT get shared. For example, I have posted an update to my section (it took weeks of long day's work) on "Other Ant-plant Families" which now lists probably all known Neotropical ant-plant Melastomataceae (including terrestrials) plus additions to other Neotropical ant-friendly families. I have vastly extended this section due to an influx of South American members (mostly academics) into my Facebook group because my tome is being translated into Spanish. There is an automatic Dropbox link on my group to this rather large section. https://www.facebook.com/groups/498723016920977/ I regularly promote this group but I am not aware of any reciprocation. And let us be honest, it is mostly moribund. Another fascinating fact is the VERY NOVEL presence of extrafloral nectaries in Myrmecodia horrida. See. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_10-1

Aurelien. May I use a few of these photos in my tome.

Thanks for this. I have removed it from my tome.

Neotropical Myrmecophilous Melastomataceae. Most of these names are historic because all members of the tribe Miconieae are now placed in a sole genus Miconia. In my 2020 edition I hope to list all changes under Miconia along with as many synonyms as possible. Most species are shrubs or even small trees but some are hemi-epiphytic and occasionally truly epiphytic, even occurring in ant gardens. However, because they have so much interest to students of myrmecophytes I am listing all ant friendly species in my tome which is mostly reserved for epiphytic species. Allomaieta grandiflora, Blakea austin-smithii, Blakea chlorantha, Blakea formicaria, Blakea involvens, Blakea jativae, Blakea perforata, Blakea podagrica. Blakea podagrica subsp. ciliata, Blakea polyantha, Blakea punctulata, Blakea subconnata, Blakea subvaginata, Clidemia acostae, Clidemia allardii, Clidemia allardii subsp. maranonensis, Clidemia allardii, Clidemia ayangannensis, Clidemia ciliata, Clidemia ciliata var. testiculata, Clidemia cymosa, Clidemia collina, Clidemia crenulata, Clidemia ferox, Clidemia foliosa, Clidemia folsomii, Clidemia heptamera, Clidemia heterophylla , Clidemia inobsepta, Clidemia juruensis, Clidemia killipii, Clidemia lanuginosa, Clidemia myrmecina, Clidemia neblinae, Clidemia pilosa , Clidemia pubescens, Clidemia rodriguezii, Clidemia setosa, Clidemia trichogona, Clidemia spectabilis, Clidemia sprucei, Clidemia taurina, Clidemia tenebrosa , Clidemia tococoidea, Clidemia ventricosa, Conostegia dentata, Conostegia hispida, Conostegia inusitata, Conostegia setosa, Henriettella cuneata, Maieta guianensis, Maieta neblinensis, Maieta poeppigii, Merianthera burlemarxii, Miconia bailloniana, Miconia expansa, Miconia flaccida, Miconia hospitalis, Ossaea bullifera, Tococa aristata, Tococa bullifera , Tococa bullifera var. glabrata, Tococa capitata, Tococa caquetana, Tococa caudata, Tococa ciliata, Tococa cordata, Tococa coronata, Tococa filiformis, Tococa gonoptera, Tococa guianensis, Tococa hirta, Tococa lancifolia, Tococa lancifolia var. anaphysca, Tococa leticiana, Tococa macrophysca, Tococa macroptera, Tococa macedoi, Tococa macrosperma, Tococa obovata subsp. obovata, Tococa parviflora, Tococa parviflora var. mansenrichensis, Tococa tetramera, Tococa pauciflora, Tococa quadrialata, Tococa racemifera, Tococa rotundifolia, Tococa spadiciflora, Tococa stellata, Tococa stenoptera, Tococa stephanotricha, Tococa symphyandra, Tococa undabunda, Topobea gracilis, Topobea inflata, Topobea pluvialis.

Aurelien. Having you back in the group has focused more of my attention here. One result is that I have found more information about this family (only Neotropical spp.) after searching for more information regarding Blakea spp., and ants. There is an enormous volume of information in this study, but it will require many long hours sorting out the epiphytic (and hemiepiphytc) myrmecophytes that I specialize in, because of course many are terrestrial species. Neotropical myrmecophilous Melastomataceae – an annotated list and key. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230028715_Neotropical_myrmecophilous_Melastomataceae_-_an_annotated_list_and_key

As a popular song once said. Two out of three ain't bad. Note A. myrmecophilus is a synonym. GESNERIACEAE Rich. & Juss. (Louis Claude Marie Richard & Antoine Laurent de Jussieu) Essai sur les Propriétés Médicales des Plantes, ed. 2, p192, (1816) (Essai Propr. Méd. Pl., ed. 2) https://archive.org/stream/essaisurlespropr00cand/essaisurlespropr00cand_djvu.txt Aeschynanthus Jack. (William Jack) In Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 14: p42. (1823.) (Trans. Linn. Soc. London) Stored in BHL as Vol 14. (1825.) https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/13693#page/47/mode/1up Habit. A large variable genus of mostly epiphytic species. Some with ant affiliations. Habitat/ Range. About 160 species from India and Sri Lanka through Southeast Asia to southern China and southwest to New Guinea and finally the Solomon Islands in the Southwest Pacific Ocean. (Weber, 2004; Middleton, 2007). D.J. Middleton, In A revision of Aeschynanthus (Gesneriaceae) in Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia, Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore 68(1): pp1–63. (2016.) doi: 10.3850/S2382581216000016. https://www.nparks.gov.sg/sbg/research/publications/gardens-bulletin-singapore/-/media/sbg/gardens-bulletin/gbs_68_01_y2016_v68_01/4-4-68-1-1-y2016-v68p1-gbs-pg1.pdf Aeschynanthus albidus (Blume) Steud. (Ernst Gottlieb von Steudel) In Nomenclature Botanique ed. 2, 1: p32. (1840). (Nome ncl. Bot.) Not found online. Basionym Bignonia albida Blume (Carl (Karl) Ludwig von Blume) In Catalogus. p81. (1823). (Catalogus) See page bottom. A link can be found via Tropicos using Bignonia albida. Ecology/Infauna. Recorded growing on 9 epiphytic ant garden nests supporting 3 colonies of Camponotus irritabilis. Andreas Weissflog, Eva Kaufmann & Ulrich Maschwitz, Ant gardens of Camponotus (Myrmotarsus) irritabilis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae) and Hoya elliptica (Apocynaceae) in Southeast Asia, Asian Myrmecology. Volume 9, (2017) http://www.asian-myrmecology.org/publications/am09/weissflog-et-al-2017-am009001.pdf Aeschynanthus dischidioides (Ridl.) D. J. Middleton, Edinburgh J. Bot. 64: p425 (2007). Basionym Micraeschynanthus dischidioides Ridl., Fl. Malay Penin. 5: p325 (1925). TYPE: Peninsular Malaysia, Pahang, Gunung Tahan, 1670 m, Ridley, H. N. 16122 (lectotype K, designated by Middleton (2007); isolectotype SING [SING0089714]). (Fig. 5, 6) Synonyms. A. myrmecophilus P. Woods, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 33: p483 (1975); Turner, Gard. Bull. Singapore 47(1): p243 (1997 [‘1995’]). Type: Peninsular Malaysia, Pahang, Cameron Highlands, Robinson’s Falls, 1500 m, 16 April 1968, Woods, P. J. B. 616 (holotype E [E00062778]). A. hildebrandii auct. non Hemsl. ex Hook.f.: Ridley, J. Linn. Soc. Bot. 32: p502 (1896); Ridley, J. Straits Branch Roy. Asiat. Soc. 44: p15 (1905); Ridley, J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 74(2): p734 (1909); Ridley, Fl. Mal. Pen. 2: p499 (1923). Description in detail with images of attractive bird pollinated flowers. P15-19. https://www.nparks.gov.sg/sbg/research/publications/gardens-bulletin-singapore/-/media/sbg/gardens-bulletin/gbs_68_01_y2016_v68_01/4-4-68-1-1-y2016-v68p1-gbs-pg1.pdf Ecology/Infauna. Epiphyte with pendent stems often reported in ant gardens along with Lecanopteris or Dischidia. Habitat. Lower montane forest at 1100-2000m (3609-6562ft.) Range. Currently only recorded on the Malay peninsula but may extend further to Thailand and Sumatra Island. Aeschynanthus fecundus Woods. (Patrick James Blythe Woods) In Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh 33: p482. (1975). (Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh.) Not digitised. Ecology. A retrieval test using 20 seed of this plant species found that Camponotus irritabilis ignored them all. This infers that it is an improbable member of ant gardens but that is surely not conclusive evidence. Seed of Dischidia nummularia in this study (p3) were also totally ignored, yet they are common members of varied ant-plant guilds. However, dischidias parachute seed does not depend upon ants for distribution. http://www.asian-myrmecology.org/publications/am09/weissflog-et-al-2017-am009001.pdf

I have vastly amended my notes on Poikilospermum cordifolium above, and added more to my 2020 edition of my e/book - data base. Indeed, my chapter on "Other Ant-plant Families especially is already much enlarged as I drill down into leads provided by Aurelien, Jay and Satoshi.

Anthurium obtusum (Engl.) Grayum, (Michael Howard Grayum,) in Phytologia 82(1): p35. (1997) (Phytologia). Basionym Anthurium trinerve var. obtusum Engl. (Heinrich Gustav Adolf Engler) Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 25(3): pp357-358, (1898) (Bot. Jahrb. Syst.) https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/209214#page/367/mode/1up Synonym. Anthurium trinerve Miq. (Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel) In Linnaea 17: pp66–67, (1843) (Linnaea). https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/106859#page/72/mode/1up Etymology. Obtusum. essentially means blunt. Habit/Ecology. A confirmed ant garden resident using a synonym Anthurium trinerve Miq. In Aragua Cedeño, et al. Ant Gardens of Surumoni, Venezuela Selbyana Vol. 20, No. 1, pp125-132, (1999.) https://www.jstor.org/stable/41760015?seq=1 Photos. http://www.aroidpictures.fr/GENERA/ANTHURIUMM-Z/anthobtusum.html Range tropical Central and South America. My E/book - data base 2020 will have more details of ant associated Araceae. Most will be very clearly illustrated.

Columnea crassifolia Brongn. ex Lem. (Adolphe Théodore (de) Brongniart) ex (Antoine) Charles Lemaire.) L'Horticulteur Universel 6: pp203-205, t. 7. (1844). (Hort. Universel) Not yet digitised. http://legacy.tropicos.org/name/14000978 An attractively flowering upright small shrub. Image. https://plantingman.com/columnea-crassifolia-flowering-plants/ Ecology. Mentioned as an ant garden resident on this Nancy Botanical Gardens, France, web page. https://tools.bgci.org/garden.php?id=191 I have not been able to find supporting evidence on the www, but it is a probable contender. Range. Guatemala. Honduras, Mexico.