''Attalea phalerata'' is a species of

palm tree The Arecaceae () is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are colloquially c ...

known by the English common name urucuri palm, the Portuguese common name ''urucurizeiro'', and the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

common name ''shapaja''. Other common names include ''motacu''Justi, S. A., et al. (2010)
Infestation of peridomestic ''Attalea phalerata'' palms by ''Rhodnius stali'', a vector of ''Trypanosoma cruzi'' in the Alto Beni, Bolivia.
''Tropical Medicine and International Health'' 15(6) 727-32. and ''bacuri''.Galetti, M. and P. R. Guimarães Jr. (2004)
Seed dispersal of ''Attalea phalerata'' (Palmae) by Crested caracaras (''Caracara plancus'') in the Pantanal and a review of frugivory by raptors.
''Ararajuba'' 12(2) 133-35. It is native to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, where it grows along southern and western

Amazonia The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses , of which are covered by the rainf ...

.Choo, J., et al. (2010)
Characterization of 14 microsatellite loci in a tropical palm, ''Attelea phalerata'' (Arecaceae).
''American Journal of Botany'' e105-e106. It is the most common

on the

Pantanal The Pantanal () is a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area, and the world's largest Flooded grasslands and savannas, flooded grasslands. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but i ...

.Corrêa, C. E., et al. (2012)
Seed banks on ''Attalea phalerata'' (Arecaceae) stems in the Pantanal wetland, Brazil.
''Annals of Botany'' 109 729-34.

Description

This palm grows up to tall, the trunk rarely reaching more than .Barthlott, W. and M. Winiger.
Biodiversity: A Challenge for Development Research and Policy.
' Springer 2001. It has up to 30 feather-like leaves. The bright orange fruits are up to long.

Ecology

This palm species is of

ecological Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

importance and grows in many types of forest; individuals become fertile at 7-10 years of age (1 m height). Flowering occurs throughout the year and fruiting twice per year. The seeds are dispersed by

tapirs Tapirs ( ) are large, herbivorous mammals belonging to the family Tapiridae. They are similar in shape to a Suidae, pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk (proboscis). Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, South and Centr ...

, which swallow the fruits whole,Quiroga-Castro, V. D. and A. I. Roldán. (2001)
The fate of ''Attalea phalerata'' (Palmae) seeds dispersed to a tapir latrine.
''Biotropica'' 33(3) 472-77. and by

rheas The rhea ( ), also known as the ñandu ( ) or South American ostrich, is a South American ratite (flightless bird without a keel (bird anatomy), keel on the sternum bone) of the order Rheiformes. They are distantly related to the two African Ost ...

agouti The agouti (, ) or common agouti is any of several rodent species of the genus ''Dasyprocta''. They are native to Central America, northern and central South America, and the southern Lesser Antilles. Some species have also been introduced else ...

s, spiny rats of genus ''

Clyomys ''Clyomys'' is a South American rodent genus in the family Echimyidae. It contains two species, found in tropical savannas and grasslands from circa to elevation in central Brazil and eastern Paraguay. The term ''Clyomys'' derives from the two ...

'', and caracaras. The

hyacinth macaw The hyacinth macaw (''Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus''), or hyacinthine macaw, is a parrot native to central and eastern South America. With a length (from the top of its head to the tip of its long pointed tail) of about one meter it is longer tha ...

consumes the seeds and may disperse them, as well. The sheaths of the palm often accumulate the seeds of other plants, which are sometimes deposited there by ''

Artibeus jamaicensis The Jamaican, common, or Mexican fruit bat (''Artibeus jamaicensis'') is a frugivorous bat species native to the Neotropics. Description The Jamaican fruit bat is a medium-sized bat, having a total length of with a wingspan and weighing . It ...

'', a frugivorous bat. The seeds sometimes

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an flowering plant, angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the sp ...

there and grow as

epiphyte An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphyt ...

s on the palm tree. This palm tree is commonly

pollinated Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or butterflies; bird ...

by sap beetles of genus '' Mystrops'' and

weevils Weevils are beetles belonging to the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Curculionoidea, known for their elongated snouts. They are usually small – less than in length – and Herbivore, herbivorous. Approximately 97,000 species of weevils are known. ...

of tribe Madarini.Fava, W. S., et al. (2011)
''Attalea phalerata'' and ''Bactris glaucescens'' (Arecaceae, Arecoideae): Phenology and pollination ecology in the Pantanal, Brazil.
''Flora - Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants'' 206(6) 575-84. The weevil '' Pachymerus cardo'' is known to be a seed predator on this species. '' Rhodinus stali'', an insect which is a

vector Vector most often refers to: * Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction * Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematics a ...

Chagas disease Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a tropical parasitic disease caused by ''Trypanosoma cruzi''. It is spread mostly by insects in the subfamily Triatominae, known as "kissing bugs". The symptoms change throughout the ...

, may infest this tree.

Uses

The tree has human uses. The leaves are used to

thatch Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, Phragmites, water reed, Cyperaceae, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), Juncus, rushes, Calluna, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away fr ...

rooftops and the fruits are fed to pigs and other livestock. It is a source of

vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of edible plants. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed ...

.R., M. Moraes., et al. (1996)
Notes on the biology and uses of the Motacú Palm (''Attalea phalerata'', Arecaceae) from Bolivia.
''Economic Botany'' 50(4) 423-28. It is one of the most economically important palm species in Bolivia, where it is known as ''motacú''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4818080 phalerata Trees of Brazil Trees of Bolivia Trees of Paraguay Trees of Peru