Cerro de la Neblina (lit. "Mountain of the Mist"[2]), also known as Serra da Neblina in Brazil[3] and Sierra de la Neblina in Venezuela,[4] is a sandstonemassif located in the northern Amazon Basin. It is a tilted, heavily eroded plateau, with a deep canyon in its central portion (Cañón Grande), drained by the Baria River.
Most of the massif is in Venezuelan territory, but its southeastern ridge forms part of the Brazil–Venezuela border, and this ridge is where the highest point in the massif, Pico da Neblina, is located. At 2,995 metres (9,826 ft) above sea level,[1][5] Pico da Neblina is also the highest point in Brazil, the highest point in the Guiana Shield, and the highest South American mountain east of the Andes.[4] Pico da Neblina is inside Brazilian territory, but only a few hundred metres from the Venezuelan border.
The slightly lower Pico 31 de Março or Pico Phelps, 2,974 metres (9,757 ft) a.s.l.,[5] lies next to Pico da Neblina, on the precise international border. Pico 31 de Março/Phelps is Brazil's second-highest mountain and the highest in Venezuela outside of the Andes. The massif's other named peaks include Pico Cardona, Pico Maguire, and Pico Zuloaga.[6][7]
To the north of Cerro de la Neblina lie the smaller outcrops of Cerro Aracamuni and Cerro Avispa, both reaching approximately 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) in elevation.[4]
The massif was first explored in 1954 by an American expedition led by Bassett Maguire of the New York Botanical Garden that performed an aerial inspection and then climbed the massif's northwestern slopes.[6][8][9] In January 1999, a group of carnivorous plant enthusiasts climbed Pico da Neblina following a 30 km hike up the previously unexplored northeastern ridge.[10]
In 1972, Maguireocharis neblinaeSteyerm. in the family Rubiaceae, was published and named after the massif and the explorer, Bassett Maguire.[11]
Cerro de la Neblina is sometimes referred to as the Neblina Massif,[12][13] though this term may also encompass Cerro Aracamuni and Cerro Avispa (a grouping of mountains more precisely known as the Neblina–Aracamuni Massif).[4] The Neblina–Aracamuni Massif has a total summit area of roughly 473 km2 (183 sq mi) and an estimated slope area of 1,515 km2 (585 sq mi), of which Cerro de la Neblina accounts for 235 km2 (91 sq mi) and 857 km2 (331 sq mi), respectively.[4]
^Maguire, B. (January 1955). Cerro de la Neblina, Amazonas, Venezuela: a newly discovered sandstone mountain. Geographical Review45(1): 27–51. JSTOR211728
^Maguire, B. & J.J. Wurdack (October 1959). The position of Cerro de la Neblina, Venezuela. [pp. 566–569] In: Geographical record. Geographical Review49(4): 563–588. JSTOR212215
^McPherson, S., A. Wistuba, A. Fleischmann & J. Nerz (2011). Sarraceniaceae of South America. Redfern Natural History Productions, Poole.
^Carvalho, F.A., A. Salino & C.E. Zartman (July 2012). New country and regional records from the Brazilian side of Neblina Massif. American Fern Journal102(3): 228–232. doi:10.1640/0002-8444-102.3.228
^Maguire, Bassett; Reynolds, Charles (January 1955). "Cerro de la Neblina, Amazonas, Venezuela". Geographical Review. 45 (1): 27–51. doi:10.2307/211728. JSTOR211728.
Further reading
Aymard Corredor, G.A. & J.R. Grande Allende (September 2012). Duranta neblinensis (Verbenaceae, Duranteae): a new species from Sierra de la Neblina, Amazonas state, Venezuela. Brittonia64(3): 246–251. doi:10.1007/s12228-011-9227-8
Beau-Douëzy, J.-P., M. Cambornac & E. Sampers (1999). Neblina: Of Mists and Scents. Éditions de la Martinière, Paris. OCLC477238012review
Berry, P.E. & M. Olson (October/December 1998). A new rheophytic species of Euceraea (Flacourtiaceae) from Sierra de la Neblina, Venezuela. Brittonia50(4): 493–496. doi:10.2307/2807759
(in Spanish) Brewer-Carías, C. (ed.) (1988). Cerro de la Neblina: Resultados de la Expedición 1983–1987. Fundación para el Desarrollo de las Ciencias Físicas, Matemáticas y Naturales, Caracas. ISBN980-300-437-9
De Marmels, J. (1989). Odonata or dragonflies from Cerro de la Neblina and the adjacent lowland between the Río Baria, the Casiquiare and the Río Negro (Venezuela). I. Adults. Boletin de la Academia de Ciencias Físicas, Matemáticas y Naturales25: 11–78.
De Marmels, J. (1989). Odonata or dragonflies from Cerro de la Neblina and the adjacent lowland between the Río Baria, the Casiquiare and the Río Negro (Venezuela). II. Additions to the adults. Boletin de la Academia de Ciencias Físicas, Matemáticas y Naturales25: 81–91.
(in Spanish) Dickerman, R.W. & W.H. Phelps Jr. (1987). Tres nuevos atrapamoscas (Tyrannidae) del Cerro de la Neblina Territorio Amazonas, Venezuela. Boletín de la Sociedad Venezolana de Ciencias Naturales41(144): 27–32.
(in Portuguese) Fróis, R.D.L. (October–December 1956). O "Cerro de la Neblina" seria um pico da serra do Caburi. Revista Brasileira de Geografia18(4): 535–538.
Gardner, A.L. (1989). Two new mammals from southern Venezuela and comments on the affinities of the highland fauna of Cerro de la Neblina. In: K.H. Redford & J.F. Eisenberg (eds.) Advances in Neotropical Mammalogy. Sandhill Crane Press, Gainesville. pp. 411–424. ISBN187-774-302-X
Givnish, T.J., R.W. McDiarmid & W.R. Buck (1 November 1986). Fire adaptation in Neblinaria celiae (Theaceae), a high-elevation rosette shrub endemic to a wet equatorial tepui. Oecologia70(4): 481–485. doi:10.1007/BF00379892
(in Spanish) Joly, L.J. (1990). Los Ibidionini (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) de la expedición al Cerro de la Neblina, Venezuela. Revista de la Facultad de Agronomía16: 207–218.
Maier, C.A. & P.J. Spangler (7 July 2011). Hypsilara royi gen. n. and sp. n. (Coleoptera, Elmidae, Larainae) from southern Venezuela, with a revised key to Larainae of the Western Hemisphere. Zookeys116: 25–36. doi:10.3897/zookeys.116.1347
(in Spanish) Osuna, E. (1984). Notas sobre Triatominae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) del Parque Nacional "Cerro de la Neblina" Territorio Federal Amazonas, Venezuela. Boletín de la Dirección de Malariología y Saneamiento Ambiental24: 45–46.
(in Spanish) Phelps, W.H. & W.H. Phelps Jr. (1965). Lista de las aves del Cerro de la Neblina, Venezuela, y notas sobre su descubrimiento y ascenso. Boletín de la Sociedad Venezolana de Ciencias Naturales26(109): 11–35.
Redhead, S. & R.E. Halling (May–June 1987). Xeromphalina nubium sp. nov. (Basidiomycetes) from Cerro de la Neblina, Venezuela. Mycologia79(3): 383–386.
Renner, S.S. (1989). Floral biological observations on Heliamphora tatei Sarraceniaceae and other plants from Cerro de la Neblina in Venezuela. Plant Systematics and Evolution163(1–2): 21–30. doi:10.1007/BF00936149
Rivadavia, F., V.F.O. de Miranda, G. Hoogenstrijd, F. Pinheiro, G. Heubl & A. Fleischmann (July 2012). Is Drosera meristocaulis a pygmy sundew? Evidence of a long-distance dispersal between Western Australia and northern South America. Annals of Botany110(1): 11–21. doi:10.1093/aob/mcs096
Rogers, J.D., B.E. Callan, A.Y. Rossman & G.J. Samuels (January–March 1988). Xylaria (Sphaeriales, Xylariaceae) from Cerro de la Neblina, Venezuela. Mycotaxon51(1): 103–153.
Roze, J. A. (September 1987). Summary of coral snakes (Elapidae) from Cerro de la Neblina, Venezuela, with description of a new subspecies. Revue Française d'Aquariologie, Herpétologie14(3): 109–112.
Savage, H.M. (1987). Two new species of Miroculis from Cerro de la Neblina, Venezuela with new distribution records for Miroculis fittkaui and Microphlebia surinamensis (Ephemeroptera: Leptophlebiidae). Aquatic Insects: International Journal of Freshwater Entomology9(2): 97–108. doi:10.1080/01650428709361279
Struwe, L., M. Thiv, J.W. Kadereit, A.S.R. Pepper, T.J. Motley, P.J. White, J.H.E. Rova, K. Potgieter & V.A. Albert (December 1998). Saccifolium (Saccifoliaceae), an endemic of Sierra de la Neblina on the Brazilian–Venezuelan border, is related to a temperate-alpine lineage of Gentianaceae. Harvard Papers in Botany3(2): 199–214.
Struwe, L., S. Nilsson & V.A. Albert (June 2008). Roraimaea (Gentianaceae: Helieae)—a new gentian genus from white sand campinas and Cerro de la Neblina of Brazil and Venezuela. Harvard Papers in Botany13(1): 35–45. doi:10.3100/1043-4534(2008)13[35:RGHNGF2.0.CO;2]
Thomas, W.W. & G. Davidse (April–June 1989). Koyamaea neblinensis, a new genus and species of Cyperaceae (Sclerioideae) from Cerro de la Neblina, Venezuela and Brazil. Systematic Botany14(2): 189–196. JSTOR2418905
Viloria, A.L. (1995). Description of a new species of Pedaliodes (Lepidoptera: Satyridae: Pronophilini) from the Cerro de La Neblina, Venezuela. Atalanta25(3–4): 525–529.
Wooldridge, D.P. (March 1993). Three new Limnichidae from Cerro de la Neblina, Venezuela (Coleoptera: Dryopoidea). The Coleopterists Bulletin47(1): 35–37. JSTOR4008905
1 List sourced from volume 1 of Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana; includes landforms that may not strictly conform to the definition of a tepui or table mountain. 2 Poorly known sites or lower mountains treated as tepuis for historical reasons.