Editing Avocado (section)

== Taxonomy and evolution ==
The species was scientifically named by the British botanist [[Philip Miller]] in 1768.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Parry |first=Katy |date=2023-01-16 |title=Persea americana |url=https://www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/persea-americana/ |access-date=2024-11-17 |website=Chelsea Physic Garden |language=en-GB}}</ref> The genus ''[[Persea]]'' to which the avocado belongs is considered to have a North American origin, with ''Persea'' suggested to have diversified in Central America during the [[Pleistocene]] epoch.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Galindo-Tovar |first1=María Elena |last2=Ogata-Aguilar |first2=Nisao |last3=Arzate-Fernández |first3=Amaury M. |date=May 2008 |title=Some aspects of avocado (Persea americana Mill.) diversity and domestication in Mesoamerica |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10722-007-9250-5 |journal=Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution |language=en |volume=55 |issue=3 |pages=441–450 |doi=10.1007/s10722-007-9250-5 |bibcode=2008GRCEv..55..441G |issn=0925-9864|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The modern avocado is thought to have speciated from other ''Persea'' during the Pleistocene, estimated at around either 1.3 million or 430,000 years ago.<ref name="berd">{{cite journal |last1=Berdugo-Cely |first1=Jhon A |display-authors=etal |date=2023 |title=Pleistocene-dated genomic divergence of avocado trees supports cryptic diversity in the Colombian germplasm |journal=Tree Genetics & Genomes |volume=19 |issue=42 |doi=10.1007/s11295-023-01616-8 |doi-access=free}}</ref> A number of authors, including Connie Barlow in her 2001 book ''The Ghosts of Evolution'', have speculated that the avocado is an "[[evolutionary anachronism]]" with megafaunal dispersal syndrome (a concept originally proposed in the 1980s by [[Paul Schultz Martin|Paul S. Martin]] and [[Daniel H. Janzen]]<ref name="Janzen">{{cite journal |last1=Janzen |first1=D. H. |last2=Martin |first2=P. S. |year=1982 |title=Neotropical Anachronisms: The Fruits the Gomphotheres Ate |url=https://commonnaturalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/janzen-and-martin-1982.pdf |journal=Science |publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |volume=215 |issue=4528 |pages=19–27 |bibcode=1982Sci...215...19J |doi=10.1126/science.215.4528.19 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=17790450 |s2cid=19296719}}</ref>), arguing that the avocado likely [[coevolution|coevolved]] dispersal of its large seed by now-extinct [[megafauna]].<ref name="Barlow2001" /><ref>Wolstenholme, B.N.; Whiley, A.W. [http://209.143.153.251/WAC4/WAC4_p077.pdf Ecophysiology of the avocado (''Persea americana'' Mill.) tree as a basis for pre-harvest management.] ''Rev. Chapingo Ser. Hortic.'' '''1999''', ''5'', 77–88. </ref> Barlow proposed that the dispersers included the [[gomphothere]] (elephant relative) ''[[Cuvieronius]]'', as well as [[Ground sloth|ground sloths]], [[Toxodontidae|toxodontids]], and [[Glyptodont|glyptodonts]].<ref name="Barlow2001">{{cite book |last=Barlow |first=Connie |year=2001 |title=The Ghosts of Evolution: Nonsensical Fruit, Missing Partners, and Other Ecological Anachronisms |location=New York |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-00551-2}}</ref> The concept of evolutionary anachronisms/megafaunal dispersal syndrome has been criticised by some authors, who note that many large fruit are readily dispersed by non-megafaunal animals,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Blanco |first1=Guillermo |last2=Tella |first2=José L. |last3=Díaz-Luque |first3=José A. |last4=Hiraldo |first4=Fernando |date=2019-08-29 |title=Multiple External Seed Dispersers Challenge the Megafaunal Syndrome Anachronism and the Surrogate Ecological Function of Livestock |journal=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |volume=7 |page=328 |doi=10.3389/fevo.2019.00328 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2019FrEEv...7..328B |issn=2296-701X|hdl=10261/199258 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> with it being noted that living [[Agouti|agoutis]] disperse avocado seeds,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mittelman |first1=Pedro |last2=Dracxler |first2=Caroline Marques |last3=Santos-Coutinho |first3=Pollyanna R. O. |last4=Pires |first4=Alexandra S. |date=December 2021 |title=Sowing forests: a synthesis of seed dispersal and predation by agoutis and their influence on plant communities |journal=Biological Reviews |language=en |volume=96 |issue=6 |pages=2425–2445 |doi=10.1111/brv.12761 |pmid=34156131 |issn=1464-7931|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>Peterson, Maria, "[https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1550&context=tropical_ecology Seed toughness in Persea americana (Lauraceae) and Dioclea reflexa (Papilionaceae) and feeding behavior in agoutis (Dasyprocta punctata), 2007]" (2007). Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]. 551.</ref> with [[Spectacled bear|spectacled bears]] have also having been observed eating domestic avocados.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Velez-Liendo |first1=Ximena |title=Andean Bear ( Tremarctos ornatus ) |date=2020-11-26 |work=Bears of the World |pages=78–87 |editor-last=Penteriani |editor-first=Vincenzo |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/bears-of-the-world/andean-bear-tremarctos-ornatus/50CB3CCA93D6742E760E5B8A26F35F98 |access-date=2024-11-19 |edition=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781108692571.008 |isbn=978-1-108-69257-1 |last2=Jackson |first2=David |last3=Ruiz-García |first3=Manuel |last4=Castellanos |first4=Armando |last5=Espinosa |first5=Santiago |last6=Laguna |first6=Andrés |editor2-last=Melletti |editor2-first=Mario|url-access=subscription }}</ref>