A tree in the

Moraceae The Moraceae — often called the mulberry family or fig family — are a family of flowering plants comprising about 38 genera and over 1100 species. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates; however ...

family, ''Ficus phaeosyce'' grows in eastern New Guinea, endemic to the nation of Papua Niugini. It is a shade tolerant understorey species, locally very abundant. A range of insect herbivores feed on the plant.

Taxonomy

The species was described by the German botanist

Karl Moritz Schumann Karl Moritz Schumann (17 June 1851 – 22 March 1904) was a German botanist. Schumann was born in Görlitz. He was curator of the Botanisches Museum in Berlin-Dahlem from 1880 until 1894. He also served as the first chairman of the ''Deutsc ...

(1851-1904), who was first chair of the '' Deutsche Kakteen-Gesellschaft'' (German Cactus Society), and the German explorer and botanist

Carl Adolf Georg Lauterbach Carl Adolf Georg Lauterbach (21 April 1864 in Breslau – 1 September 1937 in Breslau) was a German explorer and botanist. He studied natural sciences and agriculture at the Universities of Breslau and Heidelberg, obtaining his doctorate at the ...

(1864-1937), who had visited

Kaiser-Wilhelmsland Kaiser-Wilhelmsland ("Emperor William's Land") formed part of German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neuguinea), the South Pacific protectorate of the German Empire. Named in honour of Wilhelm I, who reigned as German Emperor () from 1871 to 1888, i ...

(part of

German New Guinea German New Guinea (german: Deutsch-Neu-Guinea) consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , ...

). They published the description in the book ''Flora der deutschen Schutzgebiete in der Südsee'' in 1900.

Description

A small tree or shrub with smooth leaves.

Distribution

Native to the eastern parts of the island of

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

, it is endemic to the nation of Papua Niugini.

Habitat and ecology

It is a shade tolerant understorey species growing up to 2000m altitude. The taxa grows in both tropical moist lowland and montane forests. In primary and old secondary forest plots examined in

Madang Province Madang is a province of Papua New Guinea. The province is on the northern coast of mainland Papua New Guinea and has many of the country's highest peaks, active volcanoes and its biggest mix of languages. The capital is the town of Madang. D ...

, PNG, this tree was co-dominant along with ''

Macaranga novoguineensis ''Macaranga novoguineensis'' is a species of tree in the Euphorbiaceae family. It is native to New Britain and New Guinea. It is a late succession plant, and supports a variety of insect herbivores, including caterpillars from the moth '' Homona ...

'', ''

Pimelodendron ''Pimelodendron'' is a plant genus in the family Euphorbiaceae first described as a genus in 1855. It is native to insular Southeast Asia, Thailand, Papuasia, and Queensland.Govaerts, R., Frodin, D.G. & Radcliffe-Smith, A. (2000). World Checklist ...

'' sp., ''

Ficus bernaysii A tree in the Moraceae family, ''Ficus bernaysii'' is found from New Guinea to the Solomon Islands, growing in lowland rainforest. It is dioecious, and grows cauliflorous fruit. It is fed on by a wide range of animals. Taxonomy This species is ...

'', and ''

Ficus wassa ''Ficus wassa'' is a species of fig in the family Moraceae found in Malesia. References wassa The Wasa are Akan people who live predominantly in Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country i ...

''. It favours late successional stages, but is found occasionally in early successional stages. A single ''

Choreutis ''Choreutis'' is a moth genus. It belongs to the metalmark moths (family Choreutidae), and therein to subfamily Choreutinae. Of these, it is the type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which defines a biological fami ...

'' sp. of moth made up over 30% of invertebrate herbivores hosted on the species. This is a relatively high host specialization for the area. In a survey of 191 individuals of the tree in Madang province found 427 insect herbivores from 73 species, it was one of the 3 species that had the most sap-sucking insect species (the two others being '' Ficus conocephalifolia'' and ''

''). In this area it is one of the most abundant understorey taxa, alongside ''F. conocephalifolia'' and ''F. wassa'', ''F. phaeosyce'' had some 4552 individuals per square kilometre. Leaf expansion took on average 33 days, higher that the average leaf expansion time (24 days), but typical of shade tolerant species slowness. Latex outflow was relatively low Guilds of insect herbivores that have been found on the species include adult leaf-chewers, larval leaf-chewers, leaf-miners, leaf-suckers, phylem-suckers, and xylem-suckers. The generalist moth '' Homona mermerodes'' is one of the species of '' Homona'' that feed on the plant, though it is not very favoured by ''H. mermerodes''. The micromoth '' Niveas kone'', in the metalmark moth family ''

Choreutidae Choreutidae, or metalmark moths, are a family of insects in the lepidopteran order whose relationships have been long disputed. It was placed previously in the superfamily Yponomeutoidea in family Glyphipterigidae and in superfamily Sesioide ...

'' feeds on the tree.

Conservation

The plant has a conservation rating of Least Concern from the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

, because it is a widespread common species with a stable population. However it is not found in protected areas and its habitat is under threat from a continuing decline in area, extent and/or quality, and the population of the tree is severely fragmented and experiencing continuing decline of mature individuals.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15477101 phaeosyce Butterfly food plants Endemic flora of Papua New Guinea Plants described in 1900