Phylogenetics of E ulophiinae ( O rchidaceae: E pidendroideae): evolutionary patterns and implications for generic delimitation

E ulophiinae comprise c . 270 species divided into nine genera, with the species‐rich terrestrial genus E ulophia representing 60% of this diversity. Remarkable ecological and morphological variation, and an absence of clear diagnostic characters have led to uncertain generic delimitation in the subtribe. Using a combination of new and previously published DNA sequences, we created a dataset representing 122 taxa and all genera of E ulophiinae and inferred a complete generic‐level phylogeny for the subtribe for the first time. Our sampling focused on analysing Afro‐ M adagascan taxa and therefore included representatives of the four mostly epiphytic M adagascan endemic genera, the near M adagascan endemic O eceoclades and additional sampling of the predominantly A frican genera E ulophia and O rthochilus . In total, 104 new accessions were collected for this study in Z ambia and M adagascar (88 of which represented 36 E ulophia spp. and 12 O eceoclades spp.). Independent plastid and nuclear phylogenetic trees were inferred using Bayesian and maximum‐likelihood algorithms, which recovered strong support for a monophyletic E ulophiinae, the first‐branching position of the mostly epiphytic M adagascan endemic genera, and increased support for recognition of the terrestrial genera O eceoclades and O rthochilus . E ulophia , the largest genus in the group, was recovered as polyphyletic, but with implications for its classification and that of G eodorum , that was nested in the main E ulophia clade. Although relationships among several genera were resolved with some confidence, the positions of the S outh A frican endemic genus A crolophia and the epiphytic M adagascan endemic P aralophia require further work. Taxon sampling of Asian E ulophia is a priority for future work on the systematics of this group. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2015, 179 , 43–56.