A revision of the genus Syagrus (Arecaceae)

Abstract

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, transmitted or disseminated, in any form, or by any means, without prior written permission from the publisher, to whom all requests to reproduce copyright material should be directed in writing.This authorization does not extend to any other kind of copying, by any means, in any form, and for any purpose other than private research use. .......................................................................................................................................................................... AbstractPresented here is a taxonomic revision of the Neotropical palm genus Syagrus (Arecaceae, Arecoideae, Cocoseae, Attaleinae), which is mostly from South America and primarily from Brazil. The history of the genus is reviewed. The revision includes a key, a complete list of synonymy, species descriptions, a list of specimens, distribution maps, color plates, and a conservation assessment of each species. Included herein are 65 species, 2 subspecies, and 14 natural hybrids. Of these palms, one is new (Syagrus pimentae); three are new combinations (S. cataphracta, S. elata, S. × dickensonii); and two have changed their status (S. graminifolia subsp. graminifolia and S. graminifolia subsp. glazioviana). Of the fourteen naturally occurring hybrids, eleven have hybrid names and three do not. This revision is an important contribution to the taxonomy and identification of Syagrus species from South America and the Caribbean, and is the culmination of many years of lab and fieldwork.

Niche conservatism drives a global discrepancy in palm species richness between seasonally dry and moist habitats

“…The wide habitat variation and the occurrence of ancient lineages of Attalea in TRFs and recently diversified sister clades in seasonally dry ecosystems suggest that Attalea successfully colonized the younger dry ecosystems in South America, such as the Neotropical savanna, known as Cerrado (Freitas et al, ). In fact, Neotropical savanna and seasonally dry tropical forests are now the centres of distribution of Attalea , Syagrus and Butia , indicating their great adaptive potential of survival and diversification in seasonal ecosystems (Freitas et al, ; Noblick, ).…”

“…Increases in diversification that coincide with seasonally dry ecosystem development, in fact, have been reported for Neotropical palms, such as Astrocaryum (Roncal, Kahn, Millan, Couvreur, & Pintaud, 2013) and Attalea (Freitas et al, 2016). Moreover, niche conservatism leads to low lineage exchange between distinct habitats (Wiens et al, 2010), which might also contribute to the turnover patterns (Eiserhardt, Svenning, Baker, Couvreur, & Balslev, 2013 (Meerow, 2006), whereas Attalea and Syagrus occur in a range of habitats from TRFs to dry xeric shrublands in South America (Henderson, Galeano, & Bernal, 1995;Noblick, 2017 (Freitas et al, 2016;Noblick, 2017).…”

Key to Syagrus identification using leaflet margin anatomy: Supplement to “A revision of Syagrus (Arecaceae)”

“…However, the S. oleracea distribution overlaps with S. cearensis from Brazil’s Northeast region and at one time they were considered to be the same species (Glassman 1987, Noblick 2004, 2017). …”

“…The following is meant to be a supplement to a revision of Syagrus (Noblick 2017). Palm leaflet anatomy has been useful in identification and has been used to suggest systematic relationships in the family.…”

Morphological and Molecular Perspectives on the Phylogeny, Evolution, and Classification of Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea): Proceedings from the 2016 International Weevil Meeting

“…Among almost 100 weevils known from Burmese amber to date, and many thousands of Coleoptera, no additional specimens of Curculionidae have come to light, throwing further doubt on the origin of the two members of Curculionidae described thus far from Burmese amber. [62,63]. Based on a review of the literature and extensive fieldwork, he found that the most abundant weevils visiting flowers of Syagrus coronata (Mart.)…”