''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 called palm trees ...

known by the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

common name urucuri palm, the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

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 Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

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 ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, where it grows along southern and western

Amazonia The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

.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. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and p ...

.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 study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

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 pig, with a short, prehensile nose trunk. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South and Central America, with one species inhabit ...

, 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 rheas ( ), also known as ñandus ( ) or South American ostriches, are large ratites (flightless birds without a keel on their sternum bone) in the order Rheiformes, native to South America, distantly related to the ostrich and emu. Most tax ...

agouti The agouti (, ) or common agouti is any of several rodent species of the genus ''Dasyprocta''. They are native to Middle 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 Caracaras are birds of prey in the family Falconidae. They are traditionally placed in subfamily Polyborinae with the forest falcons, but are sometimes considered to constitute their own subfamily, Caracarinae, or classified as members of t ...

. 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 fruit-eating bat native to Mexico, through Central America to northwestern South America, as well as the Greater and many of the Lesser Antilles. It is also an uncommon res ...

'', 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 angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...

there and grow as

epiphyte An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a 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 epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

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, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, ...

by sap beetles of genus '' Mystrops'' and

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

of tribe

Madarini Madarini is a true weevil tribe in the subfamily Baridinae.Faust, J. 1899: Viaggio di Lamberto Loria nella Papuasia orientale. XXIII. Curculionidae. ont.''Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova'', 40: 65-80. Genera * '' Acant ...

.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 *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

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 over the cou ...

, 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, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

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 fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or fat ...

.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