Lepidopetalum Blume (Sapindaceae): taxonomy, phylogeny, and historical biogeography

The genus Lepidopetalum Blume (Sapindaceae) contains 6 species, of which one, L. fructoglabrum, is newly described. Four species are found on New Guinea of which one also occurs in Australia, one on the Nicobar Islands and Sumatra and one on the Philippines. Specimens from Java, Sulawesi, the Moluccas, and the Lesser Sunda Islands could not be identified due to the lack of mature fruits. The genus is characterized by typical domatia (hair tufts), petals (small, triangular with much larger, usually united scales), and fruits (flat, usually 2-locular, sarcotesta present). Important specific characters are the pilosity of the upper part of the pedicel, the shape of the disc, the type of hairs inside the fruit, and the type of sarcotesta. A putative phytogeny of the genus is selected together with an areagram for the distributions of the species and their ancestral species.