The genus Thaumatophyllum was erected by
Heinrich Wilhelm Schott in 1859,[3] with the sole species Thaumatophyllum spruceanum.[4] In 1962, G.M. Barroso transferred T. spruceanum to Philodendron. (However, the transfer was not made correctly and Barroso's name Philodendron spruceanum is illegitimate.) While in Philodendron, T. spruceanum was placed, along with other species, in subgenus Meconostigma.[5] A series of
molecular phylogenetic studies, particularly from 2008 onwards, suggested that, when broadly
circumscribed, Philodendron was not
monophyletic. In 2018, it was proposed that subgenus Meconostigma should be raised to the rank of genus, under the name Thaumatophyllum.[2] The proposal has been accepted by
Plants of the World Online,[1] among other taxonomic databases.
The generic epithet Thaumatophyllum comes from
Ancient Greekθαυμα (thaûma, "miracle") + φύλλον (phúllon, "leaf").
Phylogeny
Relationships among the former subgenera of Philodendron and related genera are not yet fully resolved. Several studies that have produced a resolved tree suggest that relationships may be of the form:[2]
^
abcSakuragui, Cassia Mônica; Calazans, Luana Silva Braucks; Oliveira, Leticia Loss de; Morais, Érica Barroso de; Benko-Iseppon, Ana Maria; Vasconcelos, Santelmo; Schrago, Carlos Eduardo Guerra & Mayo, Simon Joseph (2018), "Recognition of the genus Thaumatophyllum Schott − formerly Philodendron subg. Meconostigma (Araceae) − based on molecular and morphological evidence", PhytoKeys (98): 51–71,
doi:10.3897/phytokeys.98.25044,
PMC5943393,
PMID29750071