Geographical isolation, habitat shifts and hybridisation in the diversification of the Macaronesian endemic genus Argyranthemum (Asteraceae)

Summary Inferring the processes responsible for the rich endemic diversity of oceanic island floras is important for our understanding of plant evolution and setting practical conservation priorities. This requires an accurate knowledge of phylogenetic relationships, which have often been difficult to resolve due to a lack of genetic variation. We employed genotyping‐by‐sequencing (GBS) to investigate how geographical isolation, habitat shifts, and hybridisation have contributed to the evolution of diversity observed in Argyranthemum Webb (Asteraceae), the largest genus of flowering plants endemic to the Macaronesian archipelagos. Species relationships were resolved, and biogeographical stochastic mapping identified intra‐island speciation as the most frequent biogeographic process underlying diversification, contrary to the prevailing view in Argyranthemum and the Canary Islands. D‐statistics revealed significant evidence of hybridisation between lineages co‐occurring on the same island, however there was little support for the hypothesis that hybridisation may be responsible for the occurrence of nonmonophyletic multi‐island endemic (MIE) species. Geographic isolation, habitat shifts and hybridisation have all contributed to the diversification of Argyranthemum , with intra‐island speciation found to be more frequent than previously thought. Morphological convergence is also proposed to explain the occurrence of nonmonophyletic MIE species. This study reveals greater complexity in the evolutionary processes generating Macaronesian endemic diversity.