What is "micropholis"

''For the prehistoric amphibian genus, see Micropholis (amphibian). The brittle star genus described as Micropholis has been renamed '' Microphiopholis.

Micropholis is group of trees in the family Sapotaceae, described as a genus in 1891.

These trees are native to tropical South America, Mesoamerica, and the West Indies. Most are locally known as "cafetos", literally meaning " coffee plants". But while both Micropholis and the coffeeplant genus Coffea are asterids, the present genus is part of the Ericales – a quite basal asterid lineage –, while Coffea belongs to the more advanced Gentianales.

They are valued for their wood, which is used as timber, for construction and as firewood; many species are threatened by overexploitation and habitat destruction. Also, they are often used as part of catuaba, a decoction from various tree's bark claimed to have aphrodisiac and stimulant properties.

Caimitillo verde (M. garciniifolia) is an important food source of the nearly- extinct Puerto Rican amazon bird (Amazona vittata).

Species

''For the flowering plant genus, see Micropholis. The brittle star genus described as Micropholis has been renamed '' Microphiopholis.

Micropholis (Greek 'mikros' = small and 'pholis' = scale) is an extinct genus of dissorophoid temnospondyl. Fossils have been found from the Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone of the Karoo Basin in South Africa, and date back to the Early Triassic. Micropholis was the last known member of the family Amphibamidae, as well as the only one to have been present from Gondwana. Many specimens have been found, and two distinct morphotypes are evident, differing in skull width and palatal dentition. The smaller morph tends to have a broader head than the larger. Both morphs had large fangs protruding from the palate that were inwardly curving. The genus Petrophryne ('rock toad'), named by Richard Owen in 1856, is synonymous with Micropholis. Micropholis stowi is named for George William Stow, the South African geologist and ethnologist.