Willdenowia 34
Willdenowia – Annals of the Botanic Garden and
Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem
ISSN 0511-9618
© 2004 BGBM Berlin-Dahlem.
Oberprieler, C. 2004: On the taxonomic status
and the phylogenetic relationships of some unispecific Mediterranean
genera of Compositae-Anthemideae I. Brocchia, Endopappus
and Heliocauta.
Willdenowia 34: 39-57.
doi:10.3372/wi.34.34102
Abstract
Sequences of the nrDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region
and the cpDNA trnL/trnF intergenic spacer (IGS) region were analysed
for 67 representative species of 54 genera of Compositae-Anthemideae
to ascertain the systematic position of the three unispecific
Mediterranean genera Brocchia, Endopappus and Heliocauta.
For Brocchia cinerea, which was considered to be closely
related to Cotula due to its 4-lobed corolla of disc
florets, a position among Mediterranean genera clearly distinct from
Cotula but with unresolved sister group relationships is
demonstrated. For Endopappus macrocarpus a close
relationship with Tripleurospermum was suggested due to
similarities in achene morphology; the molecular data, however,
support its position distinctly distant from Tripleurospermum
and among genera with a western Mediterranean centre of distribution
characterized by a 5bp deletion in the trnL/trnF IGS. For Heliocauta
atlantica, which was hitherto placed in the vicinity of Hippolytia
from central Asia, the molecular data reveal its sister group
relationship with the strictly Mediterranean genus Anacyclus.
First efforts are made to date the diversification of members of the
tribe based on sequence divergence rates (c. 1 % = 0.75 Myr) and
assuming an origin of the tribe in the Middle Oligocene (c. 25 Myr).
It is concluded that lineages within the clade of Mediterranean and
Eurasian representatives characterized by a 17bp deletion in ITS2
diverged in the Middle Miocene (c. 15 Myr).
Full-text article | Alignment data sets
