Licania

Licania
Oitizeiro (Licania tomentosa)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Chrysobalanaceae
Genus: Licania
Aubl.[1]
Diversity
About 220 species

Licania is a plant genus in the family Chrysobalanaceae. Mainly due to deforestation, several species of these shrubs and smallish trees have declined, some markedly so, and L. caldasiana from Colombia appears to have gone extinct in recent years.[2]

Several species are used as ornamental plants. Licania fruit are important food for many animals and can also be eaten by humans. Caterpillars of a possible new taxon of the Astraptes fulgerator cryptic species complex were found on L. arborea but do not seem to eat them regularly.[3][4]

Selected species

Species include:[5]

References

  1. "Licania". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  2. Calderon, E. (1998). "Licania caldasiana". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Version 2014.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  3. Paul D. N. Hebert, Erin H. Penton, John M. Burns, Daniel H. Janzen & Winnie Hallwachs (2004). "Ten species in one: DNA barcoding reveals cryptic species in the neotropical skipper butterfly Astraptes fulgerator" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101 (41): 14812–14817. Bibcode:2004PNAS..10114812H. doi:10.1073/pnas.0406166101. JSTOR 3373639. PMC 522015. PMID 15465915.
  4. Andrew V. Z. Brower (2006). "Problems with DNA barcodes for species delimitation: 'ten species' of Astraptes fulgerator reassessed (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae)" (PDF). Systematics and Biodiversity 4 (2): 127–132. doi:10.1017/S147720000500191X.
  5. "search for Licania". The Plant List. Retrieved 9 September 2014.

External links