Morphological and genetic evidence for the Stigmatodon goniorachis complex (Tillandsioideae, Bromeliaceae) reveals a new species on inselbergs in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

This study evaluated the morphological variation and genetic structure of seven natural populations of the Stigmatodon goniorachis complex (Bromeliaceae) endemic to vertical faces of inselbergs in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. A cluster analysis and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) corroborated the existence of four clearly separated species, S. brassicoides, S. costae, S. francae, and S. goniorachis, and unveiled two distinct morphological groups in the S. goniorachis populations. The main components of variation revealed by PCA analysis were: inflorescence peduncle diameter, floral bract length, and hypanthium length. Both morphological and genetic analyses indicated two distinct groups among the four populations initially identified as S. goniorachis, which led to the recognition of a new species described here, Stigmatodon carioca.  Besides the description of the new species, we present a comparative study that allows the morphological differentiation of the five species., Five individuals were collected at each site, according to the availability of fertile individuals, for a total of 35 individuals from seven sites. The dimensions of fully developed leaves and floral structures were measured and analyzed for presence/absence, shape and type of indumentum. The colors of inflorescences, flowers and leaves observed in the field were included in the analyses. The four species that compose the S. goniorachis complex were analyzed together. Data were tabulated in matrices of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) × quantitative (19) and qualitative (7) morphological variables in order to conduct ordination and clustering analyses. For cluster analysis, the Gower index was used as a measure of similarity (Legendre and Legendre 1998), and the criterion of average linkage between groups (Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic mean – UPGMA). For the ordination of OTUs and quantitative variables, a Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) was used to determine th..., , # **Morphological data from: Morphological and genetic evidence for the Stigmatodon goniorachis complex (Tillandsioideae, Bromeliaceae) reveals a new species on inselbergs in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest**

**[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.z612jm6mq](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.z612jm6mq)**

**Description of the data and file structure**

**File: Morphological_data_matrix.xlsx**

Description: matrix informing each quantitative and qualitative variable analyzed by the population of each of the four species in the study. In bold the codes of each population and each variable analyzed.

**The data file contains the morphological characters evaluated and measured, along with the code for each character. The identified codes for each character are found below:**

| Characters                                                                                                      | **Character Code** |
| :-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...