TY - JOUR T1 - Native New Zealand forget-me-nots (Myosotis, Boraginaceae) comprise a Pleistocene species radiation with very low genetic divergence JF - Plant Systematics and Evolution Y1 - 2015 DO - 10.1007/s00606-014-1166-x A1 - Meudt, HeidiM. A1 - Prebble, JessicaM. A1 - Lehnebach, CarlosA. SP - 1455 EP - 1471 KW - AFLPs KW - DNA sequence markers KW - Molecular dating KW - molecular phylogeny KW - New Zealand KW - Species radiation AB -

Reconstruction of molecular phylogenies is an important step towards understanding the evolutionary history of island plant radiations. The New Zealand forget-me-nots (Myosotis, Boraginaceae) comprise a lineage of over 40 closely related but morphologically and ecologically diverse species whose evolutionary history and taxonomy are unclear. Myosotis is a high priority for systematic research in New Zealand because a high proportion of these species are threatened, and many have restricted geographic ranges and occupy very specific habitats. Here, we investigated the relationships and age of Southern Hemisphere forget-me-nots by performing phylogenetic, molecular dating, and other analyses of DNA sequence datasets from representatives of nearly all described species. To this end, we used both chloroplast (atpI–atpH + rps16–trnQ) and nuclear ribosomal (ITS + ETS) DNA sequences, as well as amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs). Our analyses showed that genus Myosotis likely arose in the Northern Hemisphere during the Miocene with the ancestor of the Southern Hemisphere lineage arising in the Pleistocene and radiating shortly thereafter. The Southern Hemisphere Myosotis species have very low levels of genetic divergence and their relationships are largely unresolved, likely due to a combination of recent radiation, hybridization, and incomplete lineage sorting. Our results are compared to those of similar studies on other New Zealand species radiations, and implications for ongoing and future Myosotis taxonomic and evolutionary research are discussed.

PB - Springer Vienna VL - 301 SN - 0378-2697 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00606-014-1166-x IS - 5 JO - Plant Syst Evol ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Phylogenetic relationships of the monotypic genera Halacsya and Paramoltkia and the origins of serpentine adaptation in circum- mediterranean Lithospermeae (Boraginaceae): insights from ITS and matK DNA sequences JF - Taxon Y1 - 2009 A1 - L. Cecchi A1 - Federico Selvi KW - Boraginaceae KW - edaphic habitat KW - Halacsya KW - molecular phylogeny KW - Paramoltkia KW - serpentine adaptation AB -

Halacsya and Paramoltkia are monotypic and partially sympatric genera in the Balkans, with no clear relation-
ships among extant Lithospermeae due to striking morphological autapomorphies and scarcity of phylogenetic
analyses in this group. The two species H. sendtneri and P. doerfleri show a strict selectivity for serpentine soils,
posing the question whether this edaphic specialization reflects a common ancestry or a parallel process of adap-
tive evolution in unrelated lineages. DNA sequences from the nuclear ITS and chloroplast matK regions were
generated from multiple accessions of Halacsya and Paramoltkia, and from representatives of 16 other genera
of Mediterranean Lithospermeae. SEM analyses of pollen morphology were also conducted to test relationships
indicated by molecular phylogenies. Parsimony analyses retrieved a clade of morphologically well differentiated
monotypic Lithospermeae including Halacsya and Paramoltkia. ITS provided a better resolution of relationships
and showed the two genera to be sistergroups close to Mairetis and Moltkiopsis, and no affinity to Moltkia as sup-
posed by past authors. Pollen characters corroborated the phylogenetic link between the two Balkan genera. Five
further monophyletic clades were recognised: Onosma-Echium, Moltkia, Lithospermum s.l., Arnebia-Macrotomia,
and Alkanna-Podonosma. Mapping the edaphic preferences of Lithospermeae onto molecular cladograms showed
that serpentinophytism as an obligate condition originated separately in the clade of monotypic genera and in
that of Onosma-Echium. In Halacsya and Paramoltkia it represents an early ecological synapomorphy which
probably originated in situ from non-serpentine ancestors related to Moltkiopsis and Mairetis.

 

VL - 58 UR - http://www.jstor.org/stable/27756939 IS - 3 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Phylogeny, karyotype evolution and taxonomy of Cerinthe L. (Boraginaceae) JF - Taxon Y1 - 2009 A1 - Federico Selvi A1 - L. Cecchi A1 - A. Coppi KW - Boraginaceae KW - Cerinthe KW - chromosome evolution KW - molecular phylogeny KW - systematics KW - Taxonomy AB -

A phylogenetic and karyological analysis of the small and poorly known genus Cerinthe L. (Boraginaceae-
Lithospermeae) was performed using ITS sequences and standard chromosomal techniques. All taxa are
diploid with 2n = 16 or 2n = 18 and show a variable degree of infraspecific variation, in particular in the
polymorphic C. major and C. minor. Change in base number is associated with an early split between the
two well-supported clades of C. major, corresponding to Cerinthe sect. Cerinthe, and that of all other taxa
belonging to C. sect. Ceranthe, with the base x = 8 found only in the strictly annual C. major group, and
x = 9 in the other five species of the genus: C. minor, C. glabra, C. tenuiflora, C. retorta and C. palaestina.
The latter section is subdivided into the E Mediterranean, annual lineage of C. palaestina–C. retorta and
the mainly continental, perennial group of C. minor–C. glabra, the sister of which is the Corsican endemic
C. tenuiflora. The hypothesis that x = 9 represents the primary haploid number and x = 8 is derived through
descending aneuploidy, is discussed. A taxonomic revision of the genus is provided and the following formal
taxonomic changes are proposed: C. major L. subsp. oranensis (Batt.) Selvi & Cecchi, stat. nov.; C. major
L. subsp. purpurascens (Boiss.) Selvi & Cecchi, stat. nov.; C. minor L. subsp. cleiostoma (Boiss. & Sprun.)
Selvi & Cecchi, stat. nov. Cerinthe tenuiflora, C. retorta and the poorly known C. palaestina are well-defined
species with little internal variation.

 

VL - 58 UR - http://www.jstor.org/stable/27757019 IS - 4 ER -