Search

Global fruit and nut yields are affected by shortfalls in pollinator populations, and pollen limitation is most prevalent among tropical, bee-pollinated and self-incompatible plants. Macadamia is a subtropical, bee-pollinated crop in which some cultivars have been found to be highly outcrossing. We aimed to determine the extent of outcrossing and its effects on nut quality across a wide range of international macadamia cultivars in three countries. We sampled fruit from 19 macadamia cultivars across 23 sites in Australia, Brazil and South Africa. We used genotype-by-sequencing and MassARRAY methods to assign paternity to individual fruit and we assessed pollen-parent effects on nut quality. Macadamia was highly outcrossing, producing 80–100% of fruit by cross-pollination, at 17 of the 23 sites. Mixed mating (41–72% outcrossing) was identified at five sites, and low outcrossing (10%) was identified in one cultivar at one site where it was isolated from other flowering macadamia trees. Outcrossed fruit often had significantly better quality than selfed fruit, with 1.61–3.39 g higher nut-in-shell mass, 0.53–1.55 g higher kernel mass, 3.3–6.4% higher kernel recovery, and 3.0–3.5% higher oil concentration. The differences in kernel recovery equated to differences in value of USD 433–841 per ton of nut-in-shell at prices of USD 3000 per ton. In summary, macadamia cultivars were mostly highly outcrossing, and outcrossed nuts often had higher quality than selfed nuts. Growers should consider interplanting different cultivars more closely and distributing bee hives more widely to maximise cross-pollination, produce high yields, and optimise nut quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dating back to the late Early Cretaceous, the macrofossil record of the iconic lotus family (Nelumbonaceae) is one of the oldest of flowering plants and suggests that their unmistakable leaves and nutlets embedded in large pitted receptacular fruits evolved relatively little in the 100 million years since their first known appearance. Here we describe a new fossil from the late Barremian/Aptian Crato Formation flora (NE Brazil) with both vegetative and reproductive structures, Notocyamus hydrophobus gen. nov. et sp. nov., which is now the oldest and most complete fossil record of Nelumbonaceae. In addition, it displays a unique mosaic of ancestral and derived macro- and micromorphological traits that has never been documented before in this family. This new Brazilian fossil-species also provides a rare illustration of the potential morphological and anatomical transitions experienced by Nelumbonaceae prior to a long period of relative stasis. Its potential plesiomorphic and apomorphic features shared with Proteaceae and Platanaceae not only fill a major morphological gap within Proteales but also provide new support for their unexpected relationships first suggested by molecular phylogenies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to describe anatomical characteristics of wood known as 'louros' from the Brazilian Amazon. The species is also known in Portuguese as preciosa, louro preto, louro pimenta, louro rosa, itauba, itauba amarela, louro branco and louro vermelho. Wood samples were collected in the extractivist communities of Paraíso and Arimum, located in the Verde Para Sempre Extractivist Reserve in Pará State, Brazil. All evaluated wood had diffuse porosity, simple perforate plate, alternate intervessel pits and non-storied rays. The anatomical characteristics indicated that louro branco had lower average ray frequency values (1.23), while preciosa, itauba and itauba amarela had higher mean ray frequency (6.70, 6.43 and 6.60), respectively. Samples of louro vermelho and louro branco had higher values for ray height (1994.36 and 5579.81) and width (511.21 and 506.40). Regarding vessel dimensions and frequency, itauba and itauba amarela had higher vessel frequency (11.43 and 11.83). Overall, strong uniformity of wood structure was observed at macroscopic and microscopic levels in the evaluated species. However, there were some slight differences. The anatomical characteristics, effective for discrimination, were axial parenchyma type, presence of septate fibres, type and grouping of vessels, presence of oil cells and starch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of SHILAP Revista de Lepidopterologia is the property of Sociedad Hispano-Luso-Americana de Lepidopterologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Recent collections from Bahia, Brazil included a new species of Panopsis from the Atlantic rainforest. So far it is only known with fruits, which are much larger than in most species of the genus. Panopsis magnifructa is described and compared to other species in the genus. It is only the second species of the genus known in the State of Bahia, Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new species of Roupala, R. gertii from the endangered Atlantic coastal forests of Brazil is described and illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil recently began commercial cultivation of macadamia nuts, making it necessary to identify the insect pests attacking them in order to develop a pest management program. This study reports the occurrence of lepidopteran borers in macadamia fruits of orchards from the municipality of Jaboticabal, state of São Paulo, Brazil. Sampling was performed biweekly by visually searching for attacked fruits. The nuts collected had circular holes caused by lepidopteran larvae. The borers identified were Elaphria hypophaea (Hampson) (Noctuidae), Gymnandrosoma aurantianum (Lima) (Tortricidae), and Ectomyelois ceratoniae (Zeller) (Pyralidae), which occurred in the stages of fruit formation and growth, ripe fruits, and dropped fruits, respectively. This is the first record of E. hypophaea as a macadamia fruit borer worldwide, and the first record of G. aurantianum and E. ceratoniae as macadamia fruit borers in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Butterflies pollinate the experimentally introduced macadamia in NE Brazil. • Cross-pollination increases the final fruit set of macadamia flowers. • Pollination services optimize the production of macadamia kernels in NE Brazil. • Kernel weight is not increased by cross-pollination. • Macadamia trees, grown in NE Brazil, produce light kernels. The increasing global appreciation of macadamia nuts (Macadamia integrifolia , Proteaceae) and plans for expanding their production require appropriate management to support pollination services, since macadamia orchards depend on pollinators to assure high nut yields. Brazil is the 8th largest producer of macadamia nuts globally; however, studies on the pollination services associated with Brazilian orchards are insufficient. In this study, a survey of pollinators associated with the experimentally-introduced macadamia in NE Brazil is presented. The pollination requirements of the orchard studied were experimentally evaluated. Macadamia yields mainly benefited from the pollination service provided by butterflies rather than bees; butterflies were responsible for more than 50% of floral visits. These pollinators aided in ensuring fruiting success of inflorescences in the same magnitude as hand cross-pollination. Cross-pollination also increased final fruit set, but not kernel weight. Therefore, the studied macadamia orchard requires pollination services to optimize the production under local abiotic conditions, and butterflies are its potential pollination agents. For now, the main recommendations to implement in macadamia orchards in the region consists of conserving forest fragments to support pollinating butterflies, and including different cultivars, since outcrossing is required to ensure increased nut yields. Nevertheless, further investigation is needed to test the contributions of other pollinators, mainly stingless bees, to macadamia production supply in scenarios of large-scale crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]