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Phylogeny, diversity, and distribution inExostema (Rubiaceae): Implications of morphological and molecular analyses

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Abstract

The neotropical genusExostema comprises 25 species of trees and shrubs, ranging in distribution from Bolivia to Mexico and throughout the West Indies, with most species endemic to the Greater Antilles. Infrageneric relationships and species-level patterns of evolution were investigated in phylogenetic analyses using morphological, molecular, and combined data sets. All data sets resolved three main species groups which correspond to the three sections recognized byMcDowell (1996). However, the analyses of ITS sequence data placed the two South American species basal to the three main clades. Otherwise, the morphological and molecular data are highly compatible, and produce a more robust yet consistent phylogeny in the combined data analysis. Morphological evolution inExostema involves many specializations for xeric habitats, reflecting repeated ecological shifts from moist forest to exposed, seasonally dry environments during the diversification of the genus. Both moth and bee pollination syndromes are found inExostema, and shifts in pollination ecology appear pivotal to the differentiation of the three sections. Biogeographically,Exostema likely originated in South America and migrated via Central America to the Greater Antilles, where the morphological diversification and speciation are most extensive.

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  1. Tim McDowell

    Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, East Tennessee State University, 37614-0703, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Systematic Botany, Uppsala University, Villavägen 6, S-752 36, Uppsala, Sweden

    Tim McDowell

  2. Department of Systematic Botany, Uppsala University, Villavägen 6, S-752 36, Uppsala, Sweden

    Birgitta Bremer

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McDowell, T., Bremer, B. Phylogeny, diversity, and distribution inExostema (Rubiaceae): Implications of morphological and molecular analyses. Pl Syst Evol 212, 215–246 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01089740

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