Two new combinations of Middletonia (Gesneriaceae) in China

In 2016, systematic studies of the tribe Loxocarpinae A.DC. supported the establishment of the new genus <i>Middletonia</i> C. Puglisi. This study was based on inference and parsimony analyses of a phylogenetic tree derived from the nuclear ITS and plastid <i>trnL-trnF</i> regions, constructing the most recent phylogeny that includes the genera <i>Middletonia</i> and <i>Paraboea</i>. The results showed that the current generic delimitation within the tribe differs from the clades delineated by phylogenetic analysis, and both morphological and molecular evidence support treating the Hainan endemics <i>Paraboeachangjiangensis</i> Xing & Z.X.Li and <i>P.hainanensis</i> (Chun) Burtt as species of <i>Middletonia</i>. Therefore, this paper re-delimits the genera <i>Middletonia</i> and <i>Paraboea</i>, aiming to establish a more natural classification, and proposes the new combinations <i>Middletoniachangjiangensis</i> (F.W.Xing & Z.X.Li) X.X.Bai, <b>comb. nov.</b>, and <i>Middletoniahainanensis</i> (Chun) X.X.Bai, <b>comb. nov.</b>, providing a valuable framework for the development and comparative studies of the molecular systematics of the family Gesneriaceae.