Fitolitos de Poaceae argentinas: III. Fitolitos foliares de algunas especies del género Paspalum (Paniceae: Panicoideae: Poaceae), en la provincia de Entre Ríos

Abstract

The phytoliths morphology belonging to the leaves of 8 species of Paspalum genus (P. dilatatum Poir., P. lividum Trin., P. nicorae Parodi, P. notatum Flueggé, P. plicatulum Michaux, P. saurae Parodi, P. unispicatum Nash and P. urvillei Steud.), present in the prairie of Entre Ríos Province, is described. Cluster analysis (UPGMA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were performed on the data of 49 morphological characters from the 8 phytoliths assemblages (OTUs). The results define two hypothesis of their association. The hypothesis A include the formation of two groups, the first group with P. unispicatum and P. lividum assemblages and the second one with [P. dilatatum + (P. notatum + P. saurae)] and [P. plicatulum + (P. nicorae + P. urvillei)] assemblage subgroups. The hypothesis B include the formation of three groups, the first one with P. unispicatum assemblage, the second with P. lividum assemblage and the third with the P. dilatatum + {P. notatum +{P. nicorae + [P. saurae + (P. plicatulum + P. urvillei)]}} assemblages. The 8 phytolith assemblages show Panicoideae affinity (sensu Twiss, 1992), and differ to the typical phytolith assemblages from other subfamilies.