Miconia clasei, a new species of Miconia sect. Calycodomatia (Miconieae: Melastomataceae) from the Sierra de Bahoruco, Dominican Republic and a closer look at species relationships in the Sandpaper clade

Recent collections in the Sierra de Bahoruco represent a previously undescribed species of Miconia sect. Calycodomatia from the Greater Antillean Sandpaper clade. We herein describe the new species as Miconia clasei, provide a phylogenetic analysis to determine close relatives, and compare it morphologically with its closest relatives and phenetically similar taxa. We also expand on previous analyses of the Sandpaper clade, including more individuals per species than previously analyzed, and include two taxa never before analyzed phylogenetically. We show that several species within the Sandpaper clade are indeed cladospecies, while others appear to be non-monophyletic.