Cryosophileae is a

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

of palms in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Coryphoideae The Coryphoideae is one of five subfamilies in the palm family, Arecaceae. It contains all of the genera with palmate leaves, excepting '' Mauritia'', '' Mauritiella'' and '' Lepidocaryum,'' all of subfamily Calamoideae, tribe Lepidocaryeae, ...

. The tribe ranges from southern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, through

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, into

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. It includes

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

genera formerly included in the tribe Thrinacinae, which was split after molecular

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

studies showed that

Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...

and New World members of the tribe were not closely related.

Description

Members of the tribe are palms with fan shaped (or palmate) leaves and are pleonanthic—they flower repeatedly over the course of their lifespan. They are usually

hermaphroditic A hermaphrodite () is a sexually reproducing organism that produces both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female are gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphroditic. The individuals of many ...

(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 is one of eight tribes within subfamily Coryphoideae. Within the subfamily, it is a

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to the Sabaleae (which includes just a single genus, ''

Sabal ''Sabal'' is a genus of New World palms (or fan-palms). Currently, there are 17 recognized species of ''Sabal'', including one hybrid species. Distribution The species are native to the subtropical and tropical regions of the Americas, from ...

''). Together these are sometimes referred to as the New World

thatch palm Thatch palm is a common name for several different species of palm trees that are used for thatching, and may refer to: *'' Coccothrinax'', many species native to the Caribbean *'' Howea'', two species native to Lord Howe Island, Australia *'' Thri ...

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

. In the first edition of ''

Genera Palmarum ''Genera Palmarum'' is a botany reference book that gives a detailed overview of the systematic biology of the palm family (Arecaceae). The first edition of ''Genera Palmarum'' was published in 1987. The second edition was published in 2008, with ...

'' (1987),

Natalie Uhl Natalie Whitford Uhl (1919–2017) was an American botanistIPNI: Natalie Whitf ...

and

John Dransfield John Dransfield (born 1945) is former head of palm research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Dransfield has written or contributed to several books on palms, notably both the first and second editions of '' Genera Palmarum''. ...

placed a variety of New World and Old World genera in the

subtribe Subtribe is a taxonomic category ranking which is below the rank of tribe and above genus. The standard suffix for a subtribe is -ina (in animals) or -inae (in plants). The first use of this word dates back to the late 19th century. An example of ...

Thrinacinae. Subsequent phylogenetic analysis showed that the

and

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. A new genus and species, ''Sabinaria magnifica'', was described in 2013 and placed in this tribe.

Evolution

Andrew Henderson and colleagues considered the

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

of the tribe to suggest that its origins lay in the southern hemisphere. However, the discovery of fossil remains of ''

Trithrinax ''Trithrinax'' is a genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Coryphoideae of the family Arecaceae. The name is derived from ancient Greek, where ''tri'' means three, and ''thrinax'' trident. It was named in 1837 by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Ma ...

'' in Caribbean amber from the

Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

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'' is a genus in the palm family, native to the Caribbean. It is closely related to the genera '' Coccothrinax'', '' Hemithrinax'' and '' Zombia''. Flowers are small, bisexual and are borne on small stalks. Taxonomy In the first edit ...

'' fossils from the Tertiary in Europe, and ''

Cryosophila ''Cryosophila'' is a genus of medium-sized fan palms that range from central Mexico to northern Colombia. Species in the genus can be readily distinguished from related genera by their distinctive downward-pointing spines on the stem, which ar ...

''-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. Cryosophileae are found in France during

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

(

Rupelian The Rupelian is, in the geologic timescale, the older of two age (geology), ages or the lower of two stage (stratigraphy), stages of the Oligocene epoch (geology), Epoch/series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans the time between . It is preceded b ...

) and

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

(

Tortonian The Tortonian is in the geologic time scale an age or stage of the late Miocene that spans the time between 11.608 ± 0.005 Ma and 7.246 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago). It follows the Serravallian and is followed by the Messinian. The Tort ...

Distribution

The members of the Cryosophileae form 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

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

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 ...

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 ...

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

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, and includes some of the most cold-tolerant palms in the Americas. '' Chelyocarpus'' and ''

Itaya ''Itaya amicorum'' is a medium-size fan palm that is native to Brazil, Colombia and Peru. It is the only species in the genus ''Itaya''. It was unknown to science until 1972, when it was discovered on the bank of the Itaya River in the Peruvian ...

'' are next in the sequence; ''Chelyocarpus'' and ''Itaya'' are found in the western

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...

—in

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 ...

, Brazil and

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

—with one species of ''Chelyocarpus'' extending into the Pacific lowlands of

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. '' Sabinaria'' is restricted to the Colombia/

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

border. ''Cryosophila'' ranges from northern Colombia, through Central America into Mexico. ''

Schippia ''Schippia concolor'', the mountain pimento or silver pimento, is a medium-sized Arecaceae, palm species that is native to Belize and Guatemala. Named for its discoverer, Australian botanist William A. Schipp, the species is threatened by habitat ...

'' is found in

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

and a small area of

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. ''Thrinax'', ''

Coccothrinax ''Coccothrinax'' is a genus of palms in the family (biology), family Arecaceae. There are more than 50 species described in the genus, plus many Synonym (taxonomy), synonyms and subspecies. A new species (''Coccothrinax spirituana'') was describe ...

'' and ''

Leucothrinax ''Leucothrinax morrisii'', the Key thatch palm, is a small palm which is native to the Greater Antilles (except Jamaica), northern Lesser Antilles, The Bahamas and Florida and the Florida Keys in the United States. Until 2008 it was known as ' ...

'' are widespread in the northern Caribbean; '' Zombia'' is restricted the island of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

and '' Hemithrinax'' to

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1142237 Coryphoideae Monocot tribes Flora of the Caribbean Taxa named by Natalie Whitford Uhl Taxa named by John Dransfield Flora of Southern America