Taxonomic Swap 79894
(Guardado el 16/07/2020)
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Hi @atozbotanicals,
I am aware that some Catctaceae entries are not reliable in POWO, and I did not pay enough attention to this one because it was a nomenclatural (rather than taxonomic) synonym, so it remains a distinct taxon, just at a different rank. This was one of a flurry of Opuntia flags, most of which do have questions as to the rank that should be followed. If you're familiar with Opuntia taxonomy (I am not), then please have a look at them and comment, I'd appreciate any help you can offer.
If there is a deviation from POWO, then a deviation should be entered in the taxon framework relationship so other curators know not to follow POWO.
Opuntia arenaria is suposse to actually hybridize with other species, and I have seen forms which appear intermediate between Opuntia arenaria and polyacantha and maybe even involve tortispina. Maybe the isolation is due his hard habitat, not because the different chromosome. Primitive for shure, but demands more study from all the populations and even the ones from Mexico
The Cactaceae curators are deviating from POWO as a taxonomic framework and favoring Lodé with necessary changes for specializst curators in certain groups, i.e. David Ferguson & I for Opuntia, Wolfgang Blum for Echinocereus, etc.
O. arenaria should be regarded as a separate species for several reasons most notably the difference in ploidy (see here, on the Opuntiads site put together by Joe Shaw. David Ferguson, and others): https://www.opuntiads.com/opuntia-arenaria/
Changes like this should be discussed in the Cactaceae flag or in a taxon flag before changes are committed.