@article {46,
	title = {The fossil history of palms (Arecaceae) in Africa and new records from the Late Oligocene (28-27 Mya) of north-western Ethiopia},
	journal = {Botanical Journal of the Linnean SocietyBotanical Journal of the Linnean Society},
	volume = {151},
	year = {2005},
	month = {Apr 06-08},
	pages = {69-81},
	address = {Kew, U.K.},
	abstract = {The African palm fossil record is limited but the data provide an outline of palm evolution from the Late Cretaceous through the Neogene. Pollen attributed to palms is reported from the Aptian (125-112 Mya), but the earliest unequivocal record in Africa is Campanian (83.5-70.6 Mya). Palms diversified 83.5-65.5 Mya and became widespread, although most records are from the west and north African coasts. Many taxa were shared between Africa and northern South America at that time, but a few were pantropical. Extirpations occurred throughout the Palaeogene, including a notable species turnover and decline at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary (33.9 Mya), a change that resulted in the elimination of nypoid palms from Africa. The Neogene plant macrofossil record is better sampled than the Palaeogene, although few palms are documented. Thus, the low diversity of African palms today is more likely the result of Palaeogene, rather than Neogene extinctions. Newly discovered palm fossils of leaves, petioles and flowers from the Late Oligocene (27-28 Mya) of north-western Ethiopia document the abundance and dominance of palms in some communities at that time. The fossils represent the earliest records of the extant genera Hyphaene (Coryphoideae) and Eremospatha (Calamoideae). (c) 2006 The Linnean Society of London.},
	author = {Pan, A. D. and Jacobs, B. F. and Dransfield, J. and Baker, W. J.}
}
@article {19,
	title = {Determinants of palm species distributions across Africa: the relative roles of climate, non-climatic environmental factors, and spatial constraints},
	journal = {EcographyEcography},
	volume = {33},
	number = {2},
	year = {2010},
	pages = {380-391},
	publisher = {Blackwell Publishing Ltd},
	abstract = {Most of the Earth{\textquoteright}s biodiversity resides in the tropics. However, a comprehensive understanding of which factors control range limits of tropical species is still lacking. Climate is often thought to be the predominant range-determining mechanism at large spatial scales. Alternatively, species{\textquoteright} ranges may be controlled by soil or other environmental factors, or by non-environmental factors such as biotic interactions, dispersal barriers, intrinsic population dynamics, or time-limited expansion from place of origin or past refugia. How species ranges are controlled is of key importance for predicting their responses to future global change. Here, we use a novel implementation of species distribution modelling (SDM) to assess the degree to which African continental-scale species distributions in a keystone tropical group, the palms (Arecaceae), are controlled by climate, non-climatic environmental factors, or non-environmental spatial constraints. A comprehensive data set on African palm species occurrences was assembled and analysed using the SDM algorithm Maxent in combination with climatic and non-climatic environmental predictors (habitat, human impact), as well as spatial eigenvector mapping (spatial filters). The best performing models always included spatial filters, suggesting that palm species distributions are always to some extent limited by non-environmental constraints. Models which included climate provided significantly better predictions than models that included only non-climatic environmental predictors, the latter having no discernible effect beyond the climatic control. Hence, at the continental scale, climate constitutes the only strong environmental control of palm species distributions in Africa. With regard to the most important climatic predictors of African palm distributions, water-related factors were most important for 25 of the 29 species analysed. The strong response of palm distributions to climate in combination with the importance of non-environmental spatial constraints suggests that African palms will be sensitive to future climate changes, but that their ability to track suitable climatic conditions will be spatially constrained.},
	isbn = {1600-0587},
	author = {Blach-Overgaard, A. and Svenning, J. C. and Dransfield, J. and Greve, M. and Balslev, H.}
}
@article {30,
	title = {A new phylogenetic classification of the palm family, Arecaceae},
	journal = {Kew BulletinKew Bulletin},
	volume = {60},
	year = {2005},
	pages = {559-569},
	author = {Dransfield, J. and Uhl, N.W. and Conny B. Asmussen and Baker, J.W and Harley, M.M and Lewis, C.E.}
}
@article {6,
	title = {Phylogeny, character evolution, and a new classification of the calamoid palms},
	journal = {Systematic BotanySystematic Botany},
	volume = {25},
	number = {2},
	year = {2000},
	month = {Apr-Jun},
	pages = {297-322},
	abstract = {The remarkable morphological diversity of the palm subfamily Calamoideae provides a paradigm for evolutionary studies of palm structure and function. Phylogenetic relationships among the 22 calamoid genera are investigated here in simultaneous analyses of morphological data and DNA sequences from nuclear ITS regions and the chloroplast rps16 intron. The resultant hypotheses of relationship are used to explore morphological character evolution through an examination of character state optimisations. The evolution of habit and its associated characters is found to be highly homoplasious; for example, multiple origins of both the acaulescent and climbing growth forms have been identified. Similarly, life history and reproductive characters show complex patterns of evolution with few primary homology assessments proving to be effective judgements of synapomorphy. Many of these homoplasious characters were emphasized in the previous classification of the Calamoideae and consequently some non-monophyletic groups were recognized formally. We present a new classification in which a number of unexpected, group-defining characters, such as the number of pollen apertures, have been identified. The classification comprises three tribes and nine subtribes, including one newly described tribe Eugeissoneae. However, the morphology of many well supported clades remains poorly understood, creating further challenges for future studies in calamoid phylogeny.},
	isbn = {0363-6445},
	author = {Baker, W. J. and Dransfield, J. and Hedderson, T. A.}
}
