taxonID	type	description	language	source
03919F5CFF91FFF5FF088E9536C4F96B.taxon	materials_examined	TYPE: — INDIA. Arunachal Pradesh: Near Rigo village, Aalo, restricted natural population located at 28009´44 ˝ N Latitude and 94046´33 ˝ E Longitude; elevation c. 400 – 500 m asl.; hilly terrain, moist and warm climate; Col. No. 001 / LBS / 2017 (leafy twig and culm sheath) Holotype: Assam! Erect to semiscandent bamboo. Culm: Moderate in size, 9 – 15 m tall, 3.5 – 4 cm in diamter, 3 – 8 mm thick wall. Internode: 45 – 160 cm or more long, longest at the middle, shorter at base and apex, with scattered golden brown hairs extending up to 1 cm below the nodes and white colored ring up to 2 cm below the node. Node: moderately swollen, glabrous, turns glossy when dry. Branch: Many, of same length at each node above the middle of the culm. Branch bud: Cuspidate at apex. Leaf: 17.5 – 37.5 cm long and 3.5 – 6 cm width; lanceolate, subulately acuminate above, tip twisted bearing pointed needle-like structure of 7 – 20 mm long; base oblique, glabrous on adaxial surface whereas, scabrous on abaxial surface, with a 4 – 7 mm long petiole. Leaf margin: Minutely scabrous; main vein prominent with 9 – 12 pairs of secondary veins and 4 – 5 pairs of intermediate veins; transverse vein absent. Leaf sheath auricle: Absent; Ligule - short, entire. Culm sheath: Slowly deciduous, 22.5 – 31.8 cm long and 16 – 20 cm width, broad, thick, crustaceous and scabrous, covered with appressed golden brown hairs (ca. 1 mm long) on abaxial, glabrous on adaxial surface, oblique at the apex, margin ciliate with 2 mm long golden brown hairs. Blade: Imperfect, erect, 15.5 – 27 cm long and 12 – 14 cm broad, triangular, striate with transverse veins, base not rounded but of similar size, inflated up to 5 mm with reticulate veins; Margins: Ciliate, with white vertical bristles on lower half; triangular projection present at the base of the blade. Ligule: Narrow 1 mm long, arching, dentate. Auricle: absent. Inflorescence: Not known.	en	Singha, Lal Bihari, Niri, Pakpi, Devi, Raseshowri (2018): Stapletonia rigoense (Poaceae), a new bamboo species bearing very long internodes from Arunachal Pradesh, India. Phytotaxa 350 (1): 79-85, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.350.1.9, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.350.1.9
03919F5CFF91FFF5FF088E9536C4F96B.taxon	discussion	Discussion: — TABLE 1 shows the comparative morphological features of Stapletonia rigoense with the two species considered to be morphologically the most similar. S. rigoense resembles S. arunachalensis and S. seshagirianum in bearing narrow culms with long internodes and broad culm sheath blades with inflated base. However, the new taxon differs from the two in its twisted leaf apices bearing 7 – 18 mm long pointed needle-like structure; erect culm sheath blade bearing a triangular projection at the base with dentate ligule. Presence of 10 mm width ring of golden brown hairs below the nodes followed by 10 mm width white-colored ring are also unique character for this species, whereas, in case of S. seshagirianum and S. arunachalensis, they lack such features on leaf and blade and bear only a white ring with white hairs below the nodes. On the other hand, S. seshagirianum bears linear-lanceolate narrow leaves and S. arunachalensis bears oblong-lanceolate leaves, whereas the leaves of S. rigoense are linear-oblong and the size is intermediate between the other two species. The rhizome of this species is clearly pachymorph and short-necked. The rhizome neck of S. arunachalensis was reported as extended (Singh et al. 2009), and this was given as a generic character, but the length was not clarified and the illustration given did not demonstrate it very well. Possession of fringed leaf sheath auricles was also given as a generic character, but the occurrence of auricles is itself highly variable between congeneric bamboo species. Although the genus was thus distinguished mainly on its very distinctive flowering and fruit characters, and the inflorescence and fruit of S. rigoense are not known, it would nevertheless appear most likely that this new species should also be placed in Stapletonia. Much further work is required to describe the in-depth characteristics of several similar species in N E India and Burma, and to determine their generic affinities, morphological species boundaries and geographical distribution.	en	Singha, Lal Bihari, Niri, Pakpi, Devi, Raseshowri (2018): Stapletonia rigoense (Poaceae), a new bamboo species bearing very long internodes from Arunachal Pradesh, India. Phytotaxa 350 (1): 79-85, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.350.1.9, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.350.1.9
03919F5CFF91FFF5FF088E9536C4F96B.taxon	etymology	Etymology: — The species was collected from the forests near Rigo village of Arunachal Pradesh, India, hence the species has been named after its type locality. Conservation status: — S. rigoense is known only from this recent collection in a small, restricted natural population. It is therefore assumed to be threatened.	en	Singha, Lal Bihari, Niri, Pakpi, Devi, Raseshowri (2018): Stapletonia rigoense (Poaceae), a new bamboo species bearing very long internodes from Arunachal Pradesh, India. Phytotaxa 350 (1): 79-85, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.350.1.9, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.350.1.9
