Zamia Skinneri

''Zamia skinneri'' is a species of plant in the family Zamiaceae. It is endemic to the coastal area of mainland Bocas del Toro Province, Panama. Its common name is ''cebolla roja''.

This has long been considered to be a variable plant that was likely a species complex, with individuals actually belonging to several undescribed species. In 2008 some populations were studied, characterized as new species, and renamed '' Zamia hamannii'', '' Zamia imperialis'', and '' Zamia nesophila''. This recategorization reduced the size of the population of actual ''Z. skinneri'' to fewer than 500.

Classification history

Considerable confusion has surrounded the formal description of ''Z. skinneri''. It was first described in 1851 by Albert Gottfried Dietrich from a specimen collected by Józef Warszewicz in the mountains of Veraguas in Panama in 1850. In the following years, populations of ''Z. skinneri'' were reported from several provinces in Panama, and various locations in Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. In 1980, K. J. Norstog reported that ''Z. skinneri'' plants from central Atlantic Costa Rica, called "green-emergent ''Z. skinneri''" (new leaves emerge green in color and mature to a bright green), had a chromosome count of 2''n''=18, while those from central Atlantic Panama, "red-emergent ''Z. skinneri''" (new leaves emerge red in color and mature to a dark green), had a count of 2''n''=22.

In 1993, D. W. Stevenson described ''Z. neurophyllidia'' as a smaller version of ''Z. skinneri'', with a chromosome count of 2''n''=18. He stated that ''Z. neurophyllidia'' was endemic to Panama, while ''Z. skinneri'' occurred from southern Nicaragua to northern Panama. In the 1990s, the World List of Cycads reported ''Z. skinneri'' to have a range including Costa Rica, Nicaragua and northern Panama, with ''Z. neurophyllidia'' occurring only in Panama. After 2000 the World List of Cycads swapped the ranges of those species, reporting ''Z. skinneri'' to be found only in central Panama, and ''Z. neurophyllidia'' having a range that included northern Panama, Costa Rice, and southern Nicaragua.

Species complex

A study published in 2004 proposed that ''Z. neurophyllidia'' and ''Z. skinneri'' were a "hybrid species complex", and that ''Z. skinneri'' included several morphologically distinct populations. In 2008 Taylor B. et al. re-characteized ''Z. skinneri'' and ''Z. neurophyllidia'', both with a type locality of Boca del Toros Province. Both species are green emergent, but adult ''Z. neurophyllidia'' plants are consistently smaller than adult ''Z. skinneri''. They also described three new species from populations previously ascribed to ''Z. skinneri'', ''Z. hamannii'', ''Z. nesophila'', and ''Z. imperialis''. ''Z. hamannii'' and ''Z. nesophila'' have type localities of Boca del Toros Province, while the type locality for ''Z. imperialis'' is Coclé Province, Panama. ''Z. nesophila'' has green-emergent leaves, while the other two species have red-emergent leaves.

References

Sources

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skinneri
Endangered plants
Endemic flora of Panama
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot

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