''Chthamalia ojadapantha'' is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...
that is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
just to
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
.
Description
As seen on at the right, ''Chthamalia ojadapantha'' is a small, hairy, twining vine with greenish to dark purple flowers. The picture shows one twining between spaces of stones in rock wall in highland, central Mexico.
Range
It is distributed in the central Mexican states of Querétaro south to Oaxaca.
Habitat
Mainly it occurs in the seasonally dry tropical biome
—in the species' distribution area,
semi-arid
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a aridity, dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below Evapotranspiration#Potential evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, but not as l ...
"
scrub" often dominated by
mesquite
Mesquite is a common name for some plants in the genera ''Neltuma'' and '' Strombocarpa'', which contain over 50 species of spiny, deep-rooted leguminous shrubs and small trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. Until 2022, these ge ...
s and other similarly spiny trees and bushes.
Taxonomy
The taxon was first published as ''Matelea ojadapantha'' L.O.Alvarado, S.Islas & M.G.Chávez, in ''Phytotaxa'' 461: 178 (2020). Later it was transferred to the genus ''Chthamalia'' as ''Chthamalia ojadapantha'' (L.O.Alvarado, S.Islas & M.G.Chávez) S.Islas & M.G.Chávez, in ''Phytoneuron'' 2021-47: 11 (2021).
References
Asclepiadoideae
{{Apocynaceae-stub