Description and type material
Opuntia miquihuanensis was described on 20 May 2026 from material collected in the Peña–Aserradero area of Miquihuana municipality, in the Sierra Madre Oriental. The holotype García-Morales 5345B, collected on 26 March 2016, was deposited in the ITCV herbarium. Isotypes are held at CHAP and CHAPA. The protologue gives the IPNI registration number as 77379786-1. [Martínez-González et al. 2026]
Stem segments and the underground organ
Plants are 30–40 cm tall, with no distinct trunk and an upright, fleshy rhizome of tuberous shape. The green, glabrous segments are elliptic, 18–21 cm long, 12–17 cm wide and about 1,8 cm thick. The description reports 6–7 rows of areoles. [Martínez-González et al. 2026]
Each areole has 1–11 spines, 0,5–4,3 cm long, white with an amber to dark tip. The brown glochids reach about 2 mm. Young leaves are subulate, reddish, with a curved tip. The combination of stem and underground organ characters forms part of the species diagnosis. [Martínez-González et al. 2026]
Flowers, fruits and phenology
According to the protologue, the yellow flowers are 10–11 cm long. The obconical pericarpel measures about 4,7 × 2,3 cm. The stamens have white filaments and yellow anthers, and the stigma consists of eight green, papillose lobes. [Martínez-González et al. 2026]
The fruits are stalked and club-shaped, yellow-green, 6,1–6,5 cm long and 3,1–3,6 cm wide. Their areoles contain long, grey hairs and a few spines. The cream-coloured seeds are discoid to slightly reniform, about 3,2 mm long. Flowering was observed in March and April, and fruit ripening in July and August, depending on rainfall. [Martínez-González et al. 2026]
Habitat and relationships
The described site includes open, grassy mountain areas surrounded by pine-oak forests. Analysis of the combined set of nuclear and plastid markers places the new species in the Rhizomatosa group, alongside opuntias such as O. chaffeyi, O. megarrhiza and O. pachyrrhiza. The new taxon’s own sequences covered part of the full marker panel. [Martínez-González et al. 2026]
Population size and conservation
The authors noted a restricted range, a small number of plants found, and pressure from habitat transformation and grazing. They proposed the Critically Endangered category under IUCN criteria. This is the assessment presented in the protologue and should be distinguished from a separately published assessment on the global Red List. [Martínez-González et al. 2026]