Cryosophileae
Encyclopedia
Cryosophileae is a tribe
of palms
in the subfamily
Coryphoideae
. The tribe ranges from southern South America, through Central America, into Mexico
and the Caribbean
. It includes New World genera formerly included in the tribe Thrinacinae, which was split after molecular phylogenetic
studies showed that Old World and New World members of the tribe were not closely related.
(or palmate) leaves and are pleonanthic—they flower repeatedly over the course of their lifespan. They are usually hermaphroditic (male and female sex organs are present together in flowers), but some species are polygamodioecious, in which some plants have both male and hermaphroditic flowers, while others have a mixture of female and hermaphroditic flowers.
). Together these are sometimes referred to as the New World thatch palm
clade
.
In the first edition of Genera Palmarum (1987), Natalie Uhl and John Dransfield
placed a variety of New World and Old World genera in the subtribe Thrinacinae Subsequent phylogenetic analysis showed that the Old World
and New World
members of the Thrinacinae were not closely related. As a consequence of this, Dransfield and colleagues split the subtribe, and placed the New World species in a new tribe, the Cryosophileae, while the Old World species were placed in the subtribe Rhapidinae, which was transferred to the tribe Livistoneae.
and colleagues considered the distribution of the tribe to suggest that its origins lay in the southern hemisphere. However, the discovery of fossil remains of Trithrinax
in Caribbean amber
from the Tertiary
indicates that this genus, now the southernmost member of the Cryosophileae, once existed further to the north. This, coupled with the presence of Thrinax
fossils from the Tertiary in Europe, and Cryosophila
-like fossil pollen from Central America in the same time period, led Stine Bjorholm and colleagues to conclude that the current distribution of these palms represents northern hemisphere origin and a north-to-south migration, instead of the reverse.
, Bolivia
, Brazil
, Paraguay
and Uruguay
, and includes some of the most cold-tolerant palms in the Americas. Chelyocarpus
and Itaya
are next in the sequence. Chelyocarpus and Itaya are found in the western Amazon basin
—in Peru
, Brazil and Ecuador
—with one species of Chelyocarpus extending into the Pacific lowlands of Colombia
. Cryosophila ranges from northern Colombia, through Central America into Mexico. Schippia
is found in Belize
and a small area of Guatemala
. Thrinax, Coccothrinax
and Leucothrinax
are widespread in the northern Caribbean while Zombia
is restricted the islands of Hispaniola
.
Tribe (biology)
In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...
of palms
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...
in the subfamily
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Coryphoideae
Coryphoideae
Coryphoideae is a subfamily of the palm tree family, Arecaceae....
. The tribe ranges from southern South America, through Central America, into Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. It includes New World genera formerly included in the tribe Thrinacinae, which was split after molecular phylogenetic
Phylogenetics
In biology, phylogenetics is the study of evolutionary relatedness among groups of organisms , which is discovered through molecular sequencing data and morphological data matrices...
studies showed that Old World and New World members of the tribe were not closely related.
Description
Members of the tribe are palms with fan shapedFan palm
Fan palm as a descriptive term can refer to any of several different kinds of palms in various genera with leaves that are palmately compound...
(or palmate) leaves and are pleonanthic—they flower repeatedly over the course of their lifespan. They are usually hermaphroditic (male and female sex organs are present together in flowers), but some species are polygamodioecious, in which some plants have both male and hermaphroditic flowers, while others have a mixture of female and hermaphroditic flowers.
Taxonomy
The Cryosophileae are one of eight tribes within the subfamily Coryphoideae. Within the subfamily, it is a sister taxon to the Sabaleae (which includes just a single genus, SabalSabal
Sabal is a genus of New World palms, many of the species being known as palmetto. They are fan palms , with the leaves with a bare petiole terminating in a rounded fan of numerous leaflets; in some of the species, the leaflets are joined for up to half of their length...
). Together these are sometimes referred to as the New World thatch palm
Thatch palm
The name Thatch palm is applied to several different species of palm trees in the genera Coccothrinax, Howea and Thrinax. The name comes from the use of these trees for roof thatching....
clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
.
In the first edition of Genera Palmarum (1987), Natalie Uhl and John Dransfield
John Dransfield
John Dransfield is an honorary research fellow and former head of palm research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom, as well as being an authority on the phylogenetic classification of palms....
placed a variety of New World and Old World genera in the subtribe Thrinacinae Subsequent phylogenetic analysis showed that the Old World
Old World
The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
and New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
members of the Thrinacinae were not closely related. As a consequence of this, Dransfield and colleagues split the subtribe, and placed the New World species in a new tribe, the Cryosophileae, while the Old World species were placed in the subtribe Rhapidinae, which was transferred to the tribe Livistoneae.
Evolution
Andrew HendersonAndrew Henderson (botanist)
Andrew James Henderson is a palm-systematist and Curator of the Institute of Systematic Botany at the New York Botanical Garden. He has authored taxonomic descriptions of 140 species, subspecies and varieties of plants, especially in the palm family...
and colleagues considered the distribution of the tribe to suggest that its origins lay in the southern hemisphere. However, the discovery of fossil remains of Trithrinax
Trithrinax
Trithrinax is a genus of few flowering plants in the Arecaceae family, that belong to the Coryphoideae subfamily, a not very evolved lineage. The name is derived of ancient greek, where tri means three, and thrinax trident...
in Caribbean amber
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
from the Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
indicates that this genus, now the southernmost member of the Cryosophileae, once existed further to the north. This, coupled with the presence of Thrinax
Thrinax
Thrinax is a genus in the palm family, native to the wider Caribbean. It is closely related to the genera Coccothrinax, Hemithrinax and Zombia. Flowers are small and bisexual, and are borne on small stalks....
fossils from the Tertiary in Europe, and Cryosophila
Cryosophila
Cryosophila is a genus of medium-sized fan palms which range from central Mexico to northern Colombia. They can be readily distinguished from related genera by their distinctive downward-pointing stem-spines, which are actually modified roots....
-like fossil pollen from Central America in the same time period, led Stine Bjorholm and colleagues to conclude that the current distribution of these palms represents northern hemisphere origin and a north-to-south migration, instead of the reverse.
Distribution
The members of the Cryosophileae for a sequence of species that extends from southern South America through Central America and into Mexico and the Caribbean. The southernmost genus, Trithrinax, is found in subtropical parts of ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
and Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, and includes some of the most cold-tolerant palms in the Americas. Chelyocarpus
Chelyocarpus
Chelyocarpus is a genus of small to medium-sized fan palms which are native to northwestern South America. Some are upright trees, while others creep along the ground. Species are used for thatch, to weave hats, stuff pillows and as a source of salt....
and Itaya
Itaya
Itaya amicorum is a medium-sized fan palm that is native to Brazil, Colombia and Peru. The only species in the genus Itaya, it was unknown to science until 1972.-Description:...
are next in the sequence. Chelyocarpus and Itaya are found in the western Amazon basin
Amazon Basin
The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...
—in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Brazil and Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
—with one species of Chelyocarpus extending into the Pacific lowlands of Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
. Cryosophila ranges from northern Colombia, through Central America into Mexico. Schippia
Schippia
Schippia concolor, the Mountain Pimento or Silver Pimeto, is a medium-sized palm species that is native to Belize and Guatemala. Named for its discoverer, Australian botanist William A. Schipp, the species is threatened by habitat loss....
is found in Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
and a small area of Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
. Thrinax, Coccothrinax
Coccothrinax
Coccothrinax is a genus of palms in the Arecaceae family. There are more than 50 species described in the genus, plus many synonyms and sub-species. A new species has been described as recently as 2006. Many of the Coccothrinax have silver or thatch, or both, in their English common names...
and Leucothrinax
Leucothrinax
Leucothrinax morrisii, the Key thatch palm, is a small palm which is native to the Greater Antilles, northern Lesser Antilles, The Bahamas and the Florida Keys. Until 2008 it was known as Thrinax morrisii. It was split from the genus Thrinax after phylogenetic studies showed that its inclusion in...
are widespread in the northern Caribbean while Zombia
Zombia
Zombia antillarum, commonly known as the zombie palm, is a species of palm tree and the only member of the genus Zombia. It is endemic to the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles...
is restricted the islands of Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
.