Selenicereus (A. Berger) Britton & Rose (1909: 429)

Korotkova, Nadja, Borsch, Thomas & Arias, Salvador, 2017, A phylogenetic framework for the Hylocereeae (Cactaceae) and implications for the circumscription of the genera, Phytotaxa 327 (1), pp. 1-46 : 23-24

5. Selenicereus (A. Berger) Britton & Rose (1909: 429)

Type:— S. grandiflorus (Linnaeus) Britton & Rose

≡ Cereus subsect. Selenicereus A. Berger (1905: 76)

= Hylocereus (A. Berger) Britton & Rose (1909: 428) ≡ Cereus subg. Hylocereus A. Berger (1905: 72) Type:— H. triangularis (Linnaeus) Britton & Rose

= Werckleocereus Britton & Rose (1909: 432)

Type:— Werckleocereus tonduzii (F.A.C. Weber) Britton & Rose

= Wilmattea Britton & Rose (1920: 195) .

Type:— Wilmattea minutiflora (Vaupel) Britton & Rose

= Mediocactus Britton & Rose (1920: 210) , excl. the type, see Hunt (1989) for a detailed explanation. Type:— Mediocactus coccineus (Salm-Dyck ex A.P. de Candolle) Britton & Rose ≡ Selenicereus sect. Salmdyckia D.R. Hunt (1989: 91) . Type:— Selenicereus setaceus (Salm-Dyck ex A.P. de Candolle) Werdermann

= Cryptocereus Alexander (1950: 164) .

Type:— Cryptocereus anthonyanus Alexander

Notes: ―Our study provides strong evidence that Hylocereus and Selenicereus share a common origin and therefore suggest they should be merged under one generic name. The support for the clade of Hylocereus and Selenicereus is 1 PP, 98% ML BS, 99 % JK and this clade includes additionally two Weberocereus species. Hylocereus and Selenicereus were both originally established by Berger (1905), Hylocereus as a subgenus and Selenicereus as a subsection of Eucereus Engelmann. Both were raised to generic rank by Britton & Rose (1909) and the names Hylocereus and Selenicereus therefore had equal priority according to the Art. 11.5 of ICN, “When, for any taxon of the rank of family or below, a choice is possible between legitimate names of equal priority in the corresponding rank ... the first such choice to be effectively published ... establishes the priority of the chosen name...”. Recently, Hunt (2017) merged Hylocereus and Selenicereus and published the necessary new combinations in Selenicereus . He thus established priority of Selenicereus by explicitly citing Hylocereus to synonymy.

There would have been several reasons for maintaining Hylocereus instead of Selenicereus . First, Selenicereus has always been a genus without a clear concept, and several times became an assemblage of various segregate genera. Berger (1929) for example treated Selenicereus including Deamia , Weberocereus , Werckleocereus and Wilmattea , while Hunt (1989) included Mediocactus , Cryptocereus , Deamia and Strophocactus in Selenicereus . Hylocereus , in contrast has been much more consistent in terms of its circumscription. In addition, from an economic or utility perspective, Hylocereus has an international market for edible fruits (pitahaya in Latin America, dragon fruit in China), while Selenicereus does not. Although Selenicereus grandiflorus is better known in Europe as an ornamental than some species of Hylocereus , this has a regional connotation. Therefore maintaining the name Hylocereus would have also been relevant for CITES and for trade. Nevertheless, as the new combinations in Selenicereus by Hunt (2017) must be regarded as effectively published and the name now has priority over Hylocereus , we have to accept Selenicereus . The recognized species are listed and some further necessary new combinations are provided below.

Accepted species: ―31, 3 infraspecific taxa.

5.1. Selenicereus anthonyanus (Alexander) D.R. Hunt (1989: 93) ≡ Cryptocereus anthonyanus Alexander (1950: 165) .

Lectotype (designated by Bauer 2003a: 50):—[illustration] “Fig. 64” of Alexander (1950: 166).

5.2. Selenicereus alliodorus (Gómez-Hinostrosa & H.M. Hernández) S. Arias & N. Korotkova , comb. nov. ≡ Weberocereus alliodorus Gómez-Hinostrosa & H.M. Hernández (2014: 250) . Type:— MEXICO. Oaxaca: Distrito Pochutla, Municipio San Miguel del Puerto, ca. 1.5 km al N de Finca Monte Carlo, camino a Las

Lobas. Finca Monte Carlo se encuentra a 11 km al NO de Sta. María Xadani, 16°00´11´´N, 96°06´26´´W, 1238 m, 18 January 2013,

Gómez- Hinostrosa, Hernández & Pascual 2601 (holotype MEXU-01380036!, isotypes ASU, CR, HNT, IEB, MO, NY).