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Nothofagus, also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 36 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and New Caledonia). The species are ecological dominants in many temperate forests in these regions. Some species are reportedly naturalized in Germany and Great Britain.[2] The genus has a rich fossil record of leaves, cupules and pollen, with fossils extending into the late Cretaceous and occurring in Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and South America.[3] Fossils have recently been found in Antarctica.[4] In the past, they were included in the family Fagaceae, but genetic tests by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group revealed them to be genetically distinct, and they are now included in their own family, the Nothofagaceae (literally meaning "false beeches" or "bastard beeches").[5]
The leaves are toothed or entire, evergreen or deciduous. The fruit is a small, flattened or triangular nut, borne in cupules containing two to seven nuts.
Nothofagus species are used as food plants by the larvae of hepialid moths of the genus Aenetus, including A. eximia and A. virescens.
Many individual trees are extremely old, and at one time, some populations were thought to be unable to reproduce in present-day conditions at the location where they were growing, except by suckering (clonal reproduction), being remnant forest from a cooler time. Sexual reproduction has since been shown to be possible,[6] but distribution in cool, isolated, high-altitude environments at temperate and tropical latitudes is consistent with the theory that the genus was more prolific in a cooler age.[7]
The genus is classified in these sections:[8]
It was recently proposed that the generic classification of the Nothofagaceae should be revised, with the four subgenera elevated to full genera.[11] This proposed change is not taxonomically essential and it remains to be seen if this work will gain wide acceptance.[2]
The pattern of distribution around the southern Pacific Rim suggests the dissemination of the genus dates to the time when Antarctica, Australia, and South America were connected in a common land-mass or supercontinent referred to as Gondwana.[13]
In South America the northern genus limit can be construed as La Campana National Park and the Vizcachas Mountains in the central part of Chile.[14]
Every four to six years or so, Nothofagus produces a heavier crop of seeds and is known as the beech mast. In New Zealand, the beech mast causes an increase in the population of introduced mammals such as mice, rats, and stoats. When the rodent population collapses, the stoats begin to prey on native bird species, many of which are threatened with extinction.[15] This phenomenon is covered in more detail in the article on stoats in New Zealand.
Argentina, Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru
Silurian, Carboniferous, Paleogene, Neogene, Cambrian
Carboniferous, Devonian, Triassic, Paleogene, Neogene
Jurassic, Permian, Devonian, Paleogene, Neogene
Araucaria, New Caledonia, Australia, New Zealand, Nothofagus
Andes, Nothofagus, Argentina, Rosids, Chile
Australia, Lauraceae, Argentina, Africa, New Zealand
Spanish language, Argentina, Australia, Rosids, Nothofagus
British Isles, Conservation status, Rosids, Nothofagus, Species