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Molecular and morphological reassessment of relationships within the Vittadinia group of Astereae (Asteraceae)
Author(s) -
Lowrey Timothy K.,
Quinn Christopher J.,
Taylor Rachael K.,
Chan Raymund,
Kimball Rebecca T.,
De Nardi Jan C.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.2307/3558339
Subject(s) - paraphyly , biology , cladistics , sister group , clade , zoology , internal transcribed spacer , genus , systematics , asteraceae , taxonomy (biology) , botany , phylogenetic tree , evolutionary biology , genetics , gene
Morphological and ITS (internal transcribed spacer) sequence data for 40 species of the Austral‐Pacific genera Camptacra, Kippistia, Minuria, Peripleura, Tetramolopium , and Vittadinia as well as one semiherbaceous species of Olearia were subjected to cladistic analysis, separately and together. Minuria, Peripleura , and Tetramolopium are paraphyletic as currently defined. Tetramolopium vagans from Australia appears to represent an undescribed genus. Both Kippistia suadefolia and Peripleura diffusa show close affinity to Minuria species, and Minuria macrorhiza appears to contain two distinct but closely related species. Vittadinia and the remaining species of Tetramolopium and Peripleura form a strong affinity group. The distribution of indels and the combined analysis each provide evidence that the Hawaiian and Cook Island species of Tetramolopium are descended from New Guinea species. The combined analysis also suggests that the Cook Island species T. mitiaroense is sister to the Hawaiian clade. Olearia arguta groups strongly with Camptacra and shows no close affinity with either of the arborescent species of Olearia used to root these analyses. Marked homoplasy among morphological characters indicates why generic delimitation in the group has been problematic.