Thymus apulus (T. sect. Hyphodromi, Lamiaceae), a New Species from Southern Italy

<i>Thymus apulus</i>, a new species from the calcareous highland (Murge hill area) of Apulia and Basilicata, southern Italy, is described and illustrated. The new species belongs to <i>Thymus</i> sect. <i>Hyphodromi</i>, and has been confused in the past with <i>T. striatus</i> (a southeastern European species), or <i>T. spinulosus</i> (a species strictly endemic to central and southern Italy). A morphometric analysis to assess the taxonomic relationships of the putative new species and the closely related <i>T. spinulosus</i> and <i>T. striatus</i> was carried out. Multivariate and univariate morphometric analyses demonstrate that <i>T. apulus</i> is clearly different from <i>T. striatus</i> and <i>T. spinulosus</i>. It can be reliably identified by a combination of quantitative and qualitative diagnostic characters, including pink corolla, capituliform to elongate inflorescence, predominantly glabrous leaves with rare sessile oil glands and non-parallel lateral veins, and distinct morphometric traits of the bracts and calyx. The distribution of <i>T. apulus</i> is restricted to several localities in the Murge highland (Apulia and Basilicata), within Alta Murgia National Park (SCI IT9120007 "Alta Murgia") and Murgia Materana Park (SCI IT9220135 "Gravine di Matera"). <i>Thymus apulus</i> usually grows in sub-Mediterranean xeric grasslands corresponding to habitat 62A0, "Eastern sub-Mediterranean dry grasslands (<i>Scorzoneratalia villosae</i>)", included in Annex I of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC). Furthermore, the conservation status assessment of the new species, according to IUCN categories and criteria, is proposed and discussed, and an analytical key for dried herbarium specimens to the species of <i>T.</i> sect. <i>Hyphodromi</i> in Italy is presented.