Neorites

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Ordo: Proteales

Familia: Proteaceae
Subfamilia: Grevilleoideae
Tribus: Roupaleae
Subtribus: Roupalinae
Genus: Neorites
Species: N. kevedianus
Name

Neorites L.S. Sm. Contr. Queensland Herb. 6: 15. (1969)
References

Smith, L.S. (1969) Contributions from the Queensland Herbarium 6: 15.
International Plant Names Index. 2015. Neorites. Published online. Accessed: Mar. 2 2015.
The Plant List 2013. Neorites in The Plant List Version 1.1. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2015 Mar. 2.

Neorites is a genus of a sole described species of tall tree in the family Proteaceae.[1] The species Neorites kevedianus, commonly called fishtail oak or fishtail silky oak, is endemic to the wet tropics rainforests of north eastern Queensland, Australia.[2][3]

Taxonomy and naming

Queensland botanist Lindsay Smith named the species in 1969, from a collection from forestry land near Kuranda in 1955 by Queensland forestry officers Kevin J. White and H. Edgar Volck. Smith coined the species names from the first names of the finders.[4]

Peter H. Weston and Nigel Barker refined the classification of the Proteaceae in 2006, incorporating molecular data. Here, Neorites emerged as closely related to the genera Orites and Roupala. They thus placed the three genera in the subtribe Roupalinae, conceding that the next closest relatives of this group is unclear. This group lies within the subfamily Grevilleoideae.[5] Clock dating with molecular and fossil data indicated ancestors of Neorites and the South American genus Roupala may have diverged in the mid-Oligocene around 30 million years ago, and that this lineage in turn separated from the ancestors of Orites in the late Eocene around 36 million years ago.[6]

Common names for Neorites kevedianus include fishtail silky, fishtail oak, or fishtail silky oak.[3]

A compound-leaved fossil species has been recovered from the middle Eocene Golden Grove site in Adelaide that closely resembles Neorites kevedianus. Although abundant at this site, it has not been recovered elsewhere.[7]
Description

Neorites kevedianus grows as a tree to 15–30 m (49–98 ft) high.[2] The new growth is covered in brownish fur.[3]
Distribution and habitat

Neorites kevedianus is native to north Queensland, where it is found in rainforest on volcanic soils at altitudes from 150 to 1150 m above sea level.[2]
References

"Neorites". Flora of Australia Online. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government.
"Neorites kevediana". Flora of Australia Online. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government.
F.A. Zich; B.P.M Hyland; T. Whiffen; R.A. Kerrigan (2020). "Neorites kevedianus". Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants, Edition 8. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). Retrieved 15 March 2021.
Wrigley, John; Fagg, Murray (1991). Banksias, Waratahs and Grevilleas. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. pp. 463–64. ISBN 0-207-17277-3.
Weston, Peter H.; Barker, Nigel P. (2006). "A new suprageneric classification of the Proteaceae, with an annotated checklist of genera" (PDF). Telopea. 11 (3): 314–344. doi:10.7751/telopea20065733.
Sauquet, Herve; Weston, Peter H.; Anderson, Cajsa Lisa; Barker, Nigel P.; Cantrill, David J.; Mast, Austin R.; Savolainen, Vincent (2009). "Contrasted patterns of hyperdiversification in Mediterranean hotspots". PNAS. 106 (1): 221–25. Bibcode:2009PNAS..106..221S. doi:10.1073/pnas.0805607106. PMC 2629191. PMID 19116275.
Hill, Robert S. (1994). History of the Australian Vegetation: Cretaceous to Recent. Cambridge University Press. p. 269. ISBN 0-521-40197-6.