Acrocomia totai

de Lima, Natácia Evangelista, Carvalho, Alexandre Assis, Meerow, Alan William & Manfrin, Maura Helena, 2018, A review of the palm genus Acrocomia: Neotropical green gold, Organisms Diversity & Evolution (New York, N. Y.) 18 (2), pp. 151-161 : 157-158

Acrocomia totai

Acrocomia totai is popularly known as bocaiuva, totai , bocaiuveira, macabira, mocajuba, and, in the Guarani language, as mbokaja (little coconut) ( Lorenzi et al. 2010; Moraes 2015).

Publications recognizing A. totai as a distinct species are scarce ( Vianna et al. 2017c; Lorenzi et al. 2010). This palm tree prefers moist wetlands and floodplains; however, sometimes it is associated with drier areas ( Lorenzi et al. 2010). Its occurrence is reported in eastern Paraguay, north of Argentina, Bolivia, in Chaco region of Paraguay-Bolivia, and in Brazil in the south of Mato Grosso do Sul and the extreme west of Paraná ( Lorenzi et al. 2010; Moraes 2015; Palmweb; WCSP 2016).

Scariot (1998) does not recognize A. totai as a distinct species but reported that fruits found in the Pantanal region are smaller than those in Cerrado. The seeds are dispersed by Cerdocyon thous Linnaeus (1766) (crab-eating fox) ( Scariot 1998) and Tapirus terrestris (tapir) ( Tófoli et al. 2006) and are key for the diet of Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus (hyacinth macaw) ( Guedes 2009; Zorzi 2009). Despite seed predation, Ara chloropterus Gray (1859) (red macaw), by transporting the rachilla with fruits, could disperse fruits by dropping them on soil during flight ( Yamashita and Valle 1993).

The pulp and nuts are rich in lipids, fiber, protein, and minerals. Recently, a study ( Machado et al. 2015) that considered the species as ecotype totai , compared it to A. aculeata (considered there as sclerocarpa ecotype). They found a higher concentration of nitrogen, potassium, and calcium in nuts for A. totai ; however, mineral composition and oil derived from nuts had higher mean values for A. aculeata , and pulp showed a higher concentration of manganese and zinc.

In the Pantanal, pulp flour is used for preparation of ice lolly, ice cream, cakes, and jam, with the same utilization as described for A. aculeata . The associations B Maria Coelho e Pescadores Artesanais de Iscas de Miranda" and B Cooperativa Mista dos Produtores Rurais de Poconé Ltda" commercialize some derivatives of the palm tree. In Paraguay, extraction and exportation of oil from nuts are related to industrial production ( Poetsch et al. 2012). For more details about the potential use in biodiesel production, see Lapuerta et al. (2014).