The Centinela Mountains in western Ecuador has a sad reputation among biologists: in the 1980s, the region was quickly and comprehensively cut down, which is why the scientists feared that numerous unique plant species were eradicated. The American biodiversity expert Edward O. Wilson even shaped the expression "Centinelian extinction" for the disappearance of species for the phenomenon if her small-scale habitat is destroyed. But even if the losses were huge: smaller forest islands were preserved and offered the last refuges to some plants. This testifies to the rediscovery of a species that actually bears extinction in the name. However, Gasteranthus Exportus actually survived how a team led by Dawson White from the Field Museum in Chicago writes in "Phytokeys".
"Extinctus got its distinctive name in light of widespread deforestation in western Ecuador," says White. In fact, the country's coastal region and the adjacent foothills of the Andes have lost up to 97 percent of their original forest cover. Especially in inaccessible places, however, smaller and larger patches of natural vegetation remained, which, however, fell out of the field of view of science. G. extinctus, for example, was collected shortly before deforestation, but was not described until 2000. In view of the dramatic forest losses, those involved assumed that it no longer existed and referred to it as »extinctus« in the species name.
But nobody really searched for the species; Initial expeditions from 2009 could no longer provide evidence. White and his colleague Nigel Pitman could not be discouraged and went on expeditions again in 2021 - although she failed to find suitable biotopes with the help of satellite images: the mountain range was covered by clouds in many places. "For the first time I planned an expedition that we were not sure whether we would even enter a forest," says Pitman.
But already on the first day on site they found remains of intact cloud forests. And within a few hours, they tracked down living specimens of the lost species. "We didn't have a photo for comparison, only pictures of dried herbarium specimens, a line drawing and a written description. However, we were pretty sure we had found the plant because of its small hairs and striking flowers," says Pitman.
The specialist John Clark then cleared the final doubt, who sent the team pictures and fallen flowers: the crew did not want to damage living plants on site. Later, however, she discovered numerous other individuals in the different forest residues, so that she could collect a specimen copy for the museum and DNA samples.
"The discovery of G. extinctus was great, but we are even more pleased that we found a spectacular forest in an area where scientists had already feared that everything had disappeared," says Pitman. Together with Ecuadorian conservationists, Pitman and White are working to protect the remaining forests on site.
