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Phylogeny of Zehneria (Cucurbitaceae) with special focus on Asia
Author(s) -
Dwivedi Mayank D.,
Barfield Siobhan,
Pandey Arun K.,
Schaefer Hanno
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
taxon
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1996-8175
pISSN - 0040-0262
DOI - 10.12705/671.4
Subject(s) - monophyly , biology , clade , genus , molecular phylogenetics , biological dispersal , biogeography , zoology , botany , evolutionary biology , phylogenetics , ecology , population , biochemistry , demography , sociology , gene
Zehneria is a genus of small creepers and climbers from the Old–World Tropics and Subtropics. In its broadest circumscription, it comprises up to 94 species and its centre of diversity is Southeast Asia. Zehneria has been split into several smaller genera but this remained controversial mainly due to morphological plasticity of the species groups and lack of comprehensive molecular data. Here, we use one nuclear DNA (ITS1–5.8S–ITS2) and three plastid DNA regions (trnL–trnF, rpl20–rps12, matK) sequenced for about half of the species in Zehneria and its segregate genera Anangia, Neoachmandra , and Pilogyne to test the monophyly of the genus and analyse the evolutionary history of the group. We find that Zehneria s.l. is monophyletic and splitting is not supported by molecular, morphological or biogeographical evidence. Within Zehneria , we recover two strongly supported clades, one consisting mainly of species placed in Pilogyne , the other including Anangia, Neoachmandra and the type of Zehneria. Both clades comprise African, Asian, and Australian/Pacific Island species, which is evidence for high dispersal capacity in this young bird–dispersed group. For India, we accept the five species Z. bodinieri, Z. hookeriana, Z. maysorensis, Z. odorata , and Z. thwaitesii. For Myanmar, we increase the number of known species from four to eight, including three still unnamed species. The diversity hotspots for the genus, however, remain Indonesia and Thailand with together 25 species.