Mountains are paramount for exploring biodiversity patterns due to the mosaic of topographies and climates encompassed over short distances.Biodiversity research has traditionally focused on taxonomic diversity when investigating changes along elevational gradients,but other facets should be considered.For first time,we simultaneously assessed elevational trends in taxonomic,functional,and phylogenetic diversity of woody plants in Andean tropical montane forests and explored their underlying ecological and evolutionary causes.This investigation covered four transects(traversing ca.2200 m a.s.l.)encom-passing 114 plots of 0.1 ha across a broad latitudinal range(ca.10°).Using Hill numbers to quantify abundance-based diversity among 37,869 individuals we observed a consistent decrease in taxonomic,functional,and phylogenetic diversity as elevation increased,although the decrease was less pronounced for higher Hill orders.The exception was a slight increase in phylogenetic diversity when dominant species were over-weighted.The decrease in taxonomic and functional diversity might be attributed to an environmental filtering process towards highlands,where the increasingly harsher conditions exclude species and functional strategies.Besides,the differences in steepness decrease between Hill orders suggest that rare species disproportionately contribute to functional diversity.For phylogenetic diversity the shifting elevational trend between Hill orders indicates a greater than previously considered influ-ence in central Andean highlands of tropical lowlands originated species with strong niche conservatism relative to distantly related temperate lineages.This could be explained by a decreasing presence and abundance of temperate,extratropical taxa towards the central Andes relative to northern or southern Andes,where they are more prevalent.

Immature stages of Lymanopoda caracara Pyrcz,Willmott & Hall,an endemic butterfly from the paramo life zone in the Andes of Ecuador,are described and compared with those of L.schmidti Adams from Colombia.Larval morphology is illustrated for four instars.Drawings of head chaetotaxy and setal maps are provided for the first time for the genus.The host plant is identified as a dwarf bamboo Chusquea villosa (Clark) (Poaceae).Striking individual variation among adults ofL.caracara is discussed.

Leandra s.str.clade has around 200 species nearly restricted to eastern Brazil.Most species in this group are narrow endemics,but a few present striking disjunct distributions between eastern Brazil and Andes or Mesoamerica.Given the predominantly "montane" distribution observed in most Leandra s.str.,we hypothesized that cyclical range expansions during colder Pleistocene periods,followed by local extinctions during warmer interglacial periods,could have shaped the distribution of the disjunct species in this clade.In order to gather support for this biogeographical scenario in a phylogenetic framework,the species that occur outside eastern Brazil were identified,ages of the dispersal events estimated,climatic niche models for the disjuncts were generated,and the climatic envelope of these species compared.Our results place all dispersal events from eastern Brazil to Andes or Mesoamerica during the Pleistocene.Climatic niche modeling indicates a potential range expansion during the Pleistocene colder times for the disjunct species.Although the surpassing of the "dry diagonal" could have been facilitated during glacial periods,this open corridor is an effective barrier for Leandra,given the reduced number of species that dispersed beyond an eastern Brazilian origin.Additionally,the disjunct species do not present significant differences in their climatic envelopes to the non-disjunct species.Our results provide support to a short-dispersion/stepping-stone migration scenario to account for the observed disjunctions in this clade.Range expansions during Pleistocene colder periods followed by local extinctions during interglacial periods could have shaped the distribution of Leandra s.str.

Petroravenia was until recently considered as a genus of three species (P.eseptata,P.friesii,and P.werdermannii) distributed along the Central Andes of Argentina,Bolivia,Chile,and Peru.This genus was included in the tribe Thelypodieae and was morphologically characterized by being tiny rhizomatous perennial herbs with rosulate leaves,dendritic trichomes,capsular silicles,and incumbent cotyledons.However,the phylogeny of Petroravenia,and its tribal placement,was never analyzed using molecular data.The lack of such studies,as well as the paucity of herbarium collections,suggesting that Petroravenia species are vulnerable and/or endangered,prompted us to address the molecular phylogeny of this genus.For this purpose,we generated comprehensive molecular phylogenies using nuclear (ITS) and plastid (trnL-F and trnH-psbA) data,and conducted morphological comparisons between these species and their closest related taxa.Results from the phylogenetic analyses showed that Petroravenia represents a polyphyletic group,with P.eseptata included in tribe Halimolobeae,and P.friesii and P.werdermannii placed within tribe Eudemeae and related to the genus Alshehbazia.Based on the results obtainedfrom morphological and molecular data,we decided herein to retain the original circumscription of Petroravenia as monospecific within the tribe Halimolobeae and to transfer P.friesii and P.werdermannii to the genus Alshehbazia within the tribe Eudemeae.Systematic implications of these results are also discussed.